


To Infinity and...Behind?

by Thatskasterborous



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: But also Dumb of ass, Crack Treated Seriously, Hela Is Loki's Mother, Himbos in space, M/M, Pining, Pre-Avengers (2012), Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Tony Stark in space, like they're all geniuses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:40:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 40,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26122090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thatskasterborous/pseuds/Thatskasterborous
Summary: Time travel wasn't supposed to work like this. He'd done the calculations himself. It shouldn't be possible for them to be in their own past. They were supposed to end up in a different-yet strikingly similar-universe because True Time Travel doesn't exist.  But now they have apparently replaced their former selves and there was no 'Future' to get back to. There was only the here and now which just so happened to be 11 years in the past."Tony was starting to hyperventilate. Which did not help when he realised that the particles he was breathing in were actually him. In fact it made everything 10 times worse.“Oh my god. This is-I can’t.” Tony gasped. “I accidentally killed myself. This is like legit suicide.”Bruce winced but still reached out for his friend. He grabbed Tony’s shoulder and tried to ground him. “Actually I think suicide requires intention and we definitely didn’t mean to do this. So this is more like accidental death.”“So I accidental deathed myself to death. How comforting.” "
Relationships: Bruce Banner & Loki & Tony Stark, Bruce Banner/Thor, Loki & Thor (Marvel), Loki/Tony Stark
Comments: 209
Kudos: 672
Collections: Marvel





	1. Resentment is Corrosive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit January 2021: I wrote a book, woo! Which I'm very proud of. Its called "A Curse in the Night-Lauren Hulme" I'll post a link to it in case anyone would like to check it out. Xx
> 
> [ A Curse in the Night](https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08RRZZFFV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_hXK9FbHX4RKY8)
> 
> I've wanted to delve into a Tony Time Travel fic for a while now but I didn't know where to begin. I still don't have much of an idea but I'm forging ahead anyway. I've got a few ideas for the whole arc of the story but the finer details will probably be an improvisation. Nevertheless I'm still excited and hope to have some fun with this one.
> 
> In this world Tony and Pepper don't get back together they just remain good friends. So that means no Morgan. That's because I did not want Tony to lose someone else when he gets stuck in 2012.
> 
> Also I'm rather anti-Cap but I'm trying not to let it colour his character too harshly. Yet I'm still very angry with the guy. It's probably because he used to be my favourite before he fucked up big time and never apologised for it.

The sun was shining down from above. Not quite midday yet but it was close enough. It made the water of the river sparkle and made you forget that it was an unfortunate colour usually. Not quite the clear, almost blue of an undisturbed forest stream. This one was too large and too silty. Which made it a sad shade of brown. But at least it was clean. He would never allow any of his facilities to be built on polluted lands.

There were a few birds overhead. They trilled and sang, circling each other in some strange dance. It would have been pretty if you weren’t keenly aware of how few of them there were. Even this far away from the city, he rarely saw more than a handful of the creatures flying around. He remembered when the skies had been filled with flocks of them. Great murmurations that could sometimes blot out light. Now however…

Now the sky was quite empty. Just like the rest of the city. The world. The universe!

Tony took a deep breath. He needed to chill. He was getting himself worked up again. Over the damn birds for crying out loud. But it wasn’t anything new really. There would always be a grim reminder of what happened. Usually in places you never expected. That’s what made it so much harder to just carry on with your life.

Like when you would wander past a broken storefront and realise that it used to be Korma Chameleon. That they used to make some pretty decent saag paneer and the owner would always give you extra naan bread. Then you realise that they must have been caught up in the snap and then you will never taste it again-

_ Dammit I’m going melancholy again.  _ He needed a switch in his brain where whenever he would drift into sad territory it would send an impulse to his hand and make him slap himself. Actually he could probably create one of those. People had gotten some quite good research into Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. With a simple electromagnetic pulse they could make your arms twitch and move without you consciously doing it. 

However they could also temporarily blind you and make you forget how to speak. It came back like instantly but that wasn’t the point really. Maybe he should give that one a miss. He should probably steer clear of brains all together. Make it a rule not to mess with the wet, squishy stuff. He was much more comfortable with cold metal anyway. It would probably make less of a mess. 

Actually considering the sheer amount of motor oil he was covered in on a regular basis that probably wasn’t true either.

Tony shook his head. He was getting off track.  _ Again _ . He was here for a reason wasn’t he.

The Avengers compound lay in the distance. All squares and straight lines. Rather different than his other buildings. Which tended to curve organically into odd but unique shapes. But this one hadn’t been for him really so he gave in to the people asking for it to be more ‘normal’ looking. It was still nice though even if it was more boring. It gleamed starkly white against the deep green of the surrounding fields.  _ Ha, Starkly.  _

Tony sat back in his seat. His car had been stationary as soon as the facility came into view. Just far enough away so the cameras wouldn’t have seen him yet. He flexed his fingers and tapped them against the steering wheel rapidly. 

Tony wouldn’t say he was stalling per say. He was just...delaying slightly. Not wanting to quite interact with certain people yet.  _ Fuck, that is the definition of stalling isn’t it. God dammit.  _

Air left him, in what was most definitely not a deep sigh or a huff. He should be better than this. It had been five years since he had really seen everyone. Seven since the whole  _ thing _ went down. 

A muscle in his chest twinged and Tony rubbed it absentmindedly. It always did that when his mind drifted to that day. To the shield that had slammed through his suit, broke his arc reactor and carved a line into his chest.

The same shield that was currently burning a hole in his trunk. He could sense it even now. It was there mocking him, finally returning to its master. After he had picked it up in Siberia he had locked it into a safe and never glanced at it again. Now he would have to curb his unease and hand it back to the man.

Because it had been five years and now there was a possibility they could solve  _ everything.  _ He needed to buck up because the world-hell the universe-needed all of them together. There would be no conveniently leaving the facility when he knew Cap would be there. Or having Bruce and Nebula come to his place instead. No, all of them had to be  _ here _ . 

And five years was a long time wasn’t it. Long enough for that whole ordeal to be shoved under the rug and never thought of again, right? It was the way Tony dealt with everything. Which was probably a  _ perfectly _ healthy response.

You only needed to look at him to see how much had changed. He’d become  _ old.  _ Well not old, he refused to link that word in any way shape or form to him. He was the personification of new afterall. Always having the newest, the brightest, the best. 

No, he wasn’t old. But he was gray. It started at the sides. Only a few stray hairs here and there. He quite liked the salt and pepper look. But then it inevitably spread to uncharted land until his whole head was covered.

He liked to think he looked like a distinguished gentleman rather than some crazy old coot.

Tony shook himself out of his reverie once more. This was stupid, him sitting here twirling his thumbs, they had a mission to do. 

So he grabbed the steering wheel with one hand and pushed the ignition with the other. The car came to life around him and the music that had shut off earlier returned at full blast. He flinched at the sudden assault but left it at the volume it was. It was just enough of a shock to break him out of his funk.

“Hey FRIDAY would you break into their security for me?” Tony asked nonchalantly.

“Already done, Boss. I was in there as soon as we arrived” FRIDAY’s voice came from the earpiece he was wearing. Technically she was everywhere but if her voice came from every place at once it would be creepy.

“That’s my girl FRI” He said with a smile.

In reality FRIDAY didn’t need to break in. This was one of his facilities. But he didn’t want the others to feel like he was imposing on them. Or spying even. So he mostly left them to themselves with their own security system. A system that was still no match for FRIDAY.

“Okay FRIDAY patch me through. I am not arriving without at least a welcoming committee.” 

There were a few beeps and then he knew that he was through to their tannoy system. He smirked and let his music continue blaring for a few more seconds before he shut it off and said. “Would any of you beautiful people like to welcome their saviour with open arms? While a hug would be nice, a several second long french kiss is always preferable. Especially if your green or your name rhymes with toady.”

They couldn’t reply to him but he could just feel the eye rolls and long suffering sighs. It made him grin wider. And a few seconds later he did hear the whur of the electric gate opening.

He wasted no time to speed through the gate and down the long driveway. By the time he’d made it to the front of the building he saw that there was already somebody there. A somebody he would have preferred to have greeted later. But there was no time like the present. 

His window wound down to the serious face of Steve Rogers. 

“How’s it going Mr. Blond Bombshell?” Tony quipped.

The corners of Rogers’ mouth downturned but Tony persevered anyway. “I know you’re not big and green but if you still want your welcome kiss I guess I can oblige.”

Rogers sighed in that long suffering fashion of his. The one that let you know he was disappointed in you and left you feeling teeny tiny. Tony swallowed his discomfort. Being around the magnanimous captain brought up a whole load of crap. He would rather never have to witness the pitying disappointment in that guy’s eyes again. Yet it seemed that no matter what he did there was always something that Roger’s could find fault with.

Not like he just saved their sorry asses and invented  _ Time Travel  _ for them _. _

Rogers then shoved his hands into his pockets and eventually his lips quirked into some semblance of a smile. “It’s good to see you Tony.”

His tone wasn’t mocking and he did genuinely sound pleased to see Tony.

Tony mentally shook his head. He was getting ahead of himself, reading into things that weren’t actually there. So what if the Captain looked kinda disappointed with his flirting. Many people in his life had shown him the same. That didn’t mean that they hated him.

Tony put on as bright a smile as he could muster and finally extricated the car. Rogers took a half step back as he got a bit close to him and he felt his smile tighten ever so slightly.

“I heard your first attempts at time travel didn’t go too smoothly,” Tony said.

Steve took a deep breath “You can say that again. It probably would have worked better if you had been  _ here _ .”

A frown threatened to tug at his mouth at the backhanded compliment but Tony resisted. 

“Well I didn’t need to be here because I already solved it.” Tony held up a prototype model of the time GPS. Rogers glanced at it, reluctantly impressed. “I told you Cap I work better on my own these days.”

A couple of weeks ago a big group of them had invaded his self appointed bachelor pad, waxing lyrical about time travel of all things. At first he hadn’t taken them seriously because the notion was laughable. Especially when one Scott Lang had likened real time travel to back to the future. But his mind wouldn’t leave it be. The idea bounced around his head like a ricocheting bullet. Refused to be ignored. 

Tony had called up Pepper to bring her up to speed and ask for her advice. They may not be together anymore but she was still one of his best friends. He had told her how ridiculous it sounded but she had been able to detect the hope in his voice.

“If anyone could do this it’s you, Tony,” she had said “If there’s any way that the lost could come back you will find a way.”

The idea that he could reverse any of this was almost too much.

He could get the kid back.

It was that thought that cemented his resolve. He would do anything, even invent the impossible, if it meant he could bring back those that were lost. 

They all wanted him to come to the compound but Tony had refused. He needed space to solve this. After all he did tend to lone wolf a lot of his projects. The only person he had ever been able to share his lab space with was Bruce  _...and Peter but let's not go down that road _ . But Bruce had been the one to go to New Asgard. According to him he was the one most likely to get through to Thor.

With him gone, Tony decided to do his research at home. Which had paid off handsomely.

Bruce and the rest of the gang had arrived back a few days ago but Tony didn’t want to show up until he was 100% sure he’d gotten it right. He couldn’t adequately gloat if some of his calculations were off.

Now they had viable time travel and they had gotten the crew back together. They actually had a chance. This was their time to finally solve the single worst disaster in the fucking universe. Old grudges and resentment didn’t matter anymore. Not when they could finally win!

Tony took a step back and put a hand to his chest. He finally looked Rogers in the eye and resigned himself to forgiveness. “Resentment is corrosive Cap and I hate it. We finally have a chance to fix this. Focusing on bad blood isn’t going to help anybody.”

Rogers gave him an appeasing nod and a small smile. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

Rogers took his hands out of his pockets and he looked marginally more relaxed.  _ That’s a good sign right? _ Tony asked himself.

Tony gave him another smile and walked back a few steps until he was near the trunk of the car. FRIDAY was intuitive enough to open it for him without him needing to say.

“I also come with a peace offering,” Tony said.

He looked down and could still spot the circular shield despite the amount of crap he had piled on it. It was covered in bits of piping, a few springs and a collection of oil covered rags. Perhaps he shouldn’t have placed the shield under all that. But he’d had to cover up the thing or he would have ended up changing his mind. It’s not his fault that this was all he’d had in his trunk.

He casually tossed everything to the side. One of the rags got a bit stuck to it but he gave it a gentle tug and it came away. There was now a dark smudge marring its perfect surface. Tony diligently covered it with his thumb and acted like it wasn’t there.

There was a longing in Rogers eyes as Tony flipped the shield to show him the obnoxious red, white and blue side. Yet he was also hesitant and uncertain.

“Are you sure Tony?” he asked, with puppy dog eyes.

“Of course I am Cap, it was made for you.” Also if he didn’t take it Tony was 10 seconds away from frisbeeing it into the river. He wanted it out of his hair either way.

Rogers didn’t say anything else but he didn’t object when Tony moved towards him and slid the shield onto his left arm. He looked down at his shielded arm purposefully and held it up to his chest. It really was an extension of him at this point

“Thank you, Tony. Truly.”

“Can you keep it down a little bit? I didn’t bring one for the whole team.”


	2. I'm your sugar daddy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you can't tell I am making up all the science shit on the spot lol. I don't know what I'm doing.

Introductions with the Captain had actually gone a whole lot better than he had been expecting. Not that he’d been expecting death and destruction or anything. It was just sort of _nice_ and _weird_ that everything was so civil. Nevertheless he was now free to find the people he truly wanted to see.

Tony strolled through the compound in the general direction that he knew people to be in. They were all, most likely, either around the airfield or in one of the labs. 

When Tony saw a flicker of blue out of the corner of his eye his smile widened and he turned towards it. Through the window he could see a wild Nebula tending to the mechanism that controlled the door to her jet. 

From what she had told him a few days ago, the door was sticking and taking longer to open. Which really started to grate on you when you were in space for long periods of time. She had subtly asked for his help in that roundabout way of hers. She never liked to directly ask for help. It went against a lot of her fiercely independent principles. But Tony had begun to suss out when she actually wanted it. 

In the past only Rocket had fixed up the ships. He hadn’t trusted anyone else near them. But after a couple of years him and Nebula had grown extremely close. Being the only ones left to remember their family could do that. 

Tony pushed his way through the glass doors still grinning. “Neytiri! My favourite blue alien how have you been?”

Nebula sighed and rolled her eyes at the nickname. But Tony knew she didn’t mind it. She would _definitely_ let him know if she did. Then she dropped her hand away from the door and made her way over to him.

“You know I finally found out where you got that ridiculous name from. Your Rhodey showed me the motion picture. That character does not look anything like me.” She said in that breathy rasp of hers.

Tony gasped in mock insult. “Platypus showed you Avatar before I got to? That traitor,” The corners of her mouth ticked up which was how Nebula grinned. “Also there aren’t too many blue aliens to choose from and she’s definitely the most badass. So I thought it fit you like a glove.”

Nebula looked away as if suddenly shy. She still wasn’t sure how to take compliments, having never really gotten them before. A fact that made Tony incredibly angry and sent him on a mission to compliment her at every turn. A mission that may have given him a few bruises when he inevitably annoyed her to death.

“Though it would be advantageous to be as tall as her. An extra metre of height could prove useful in fights.” Nebula joked.

“Hey, if you ever want to work on some extendo-limbs I’m always here to help. Actually that sounds awesome, I’ve already come up with three different ways that could work with your current setup.” he said, his thoughts already a mile ahead.

_Maybe I could even include a grappling hook. How cool would that be?_

Nebula lifted her hand up and looked down at them with complete seriousness. She turned it over a few times with pursed lips. 

“Maybe” she said “I think that might be fun.”

Nebula had really come out of her shell over the years. She used to be incredibly self-conscious about the cybernetics in her body. To her they proved that she was inferior and they were always forced upon her. 

But now she was free of all that and able to do her own improvements. Improvements that were only for her. Because _she_ wanted them and _no one_ else. It had been liberating for her.

“It is very good to see you Neb,” he said.

It had been a fair few months since she had been on Earth. She’d only returned recently due to the sudden appearance of a plan.

“It is good to see you too Tony,” Then she leaned forward with deliberate slowness and wrapped her arms around his middle.

Tony’s smile grew a little wider and he reciprocated the hug. Not too tightly though, he knew she did not like the sensation of being trapped. She liked being able to know she could back out of it at any moment she wanted.

The fact that he could hug her at all was a testament to how close they had grown. Nearly dying in space can create quite the bond it seemed.

Nebula backed out of the hug first and crossed her arms.

“Right, I'm still on meet and greet duties. So plenty of people I still need to kiss.” Nebula rolled her eyes again. 

“So I will leave you to your repairs. Which _may_ be a faulty fuel line rather than the boosters.” he said, offering her help.

Nebula turned back towards the door with a contemplative frown. “Hmm, I think you may be right.”

“How about I come back later with a whole case of juice and you can tell me about space?” He asked.

“Make it blueberry juice and I may consider it”

“Done. FRIDAY make some orders please. I think that fancy raw vegan place is still doing business.”

“Right away Boss,”

So he gave Nebula one last wave and made his way back into the building. He didn’t have to journey far to find his next favourite people. They were in the large training area turned research lab. Considering the amount of power and space they needed for this plan they’d had to take over the communal space. Not that anyone was really complaining. No one had been ‘training’ for a good while now.

He heard them before he saw them. They were loudly discussing where to move equipment. Followed by the sounds of something very heavy hitting the ground. 

Tony turned the corner to find Bruce, Thor and Rhodey laying some of the base foundations for their Time machine. _That still doesn’t sound right no matter how much I say it. Time machine should not be a rational thought._ Rhodey’s mechanical legs had been through quite the number of improvements which allowed him to carry heavier loads than your average joe. Thor was Thor. And Bruce was always in constant Hulk-Mode these days which meant that those three were the ones doing the heavy lifting.

“That better not be the sound of expensive things breaking, my good man. It’ll be coming straight out of your paycheck.” Tony quipped to Rhodey.

Rhodey snorted and straightened up. The metal grating he had dropped looked robust enough that it was undoubtedly fine anyway. His metal legs whirred as he turned towards Tony.

“You don’t pay me anyway” Rhodey said with a smirk

Tony nodded “You’re right. I just buy you everything you need instead. If anything I’m your Sugar Daddy.”

Rhodey laughed at that. “If you are my Sugar Daddy then you have been seriously slacking on the date nights. Where are my late night dinners or moonlit walks on the beach?”

“Well maybe if I was getting some sugar I’d be more inclined to treat you. But look at this, i’ve already asked for a kiss but instead all I get is nag, nag, nag.” Tony mimed with his hand.

Rhodey smirked at him before grabbing his face and giving him a very forceful kiss right on the lips. It lasted several seconds but Rhodey eventually pulled away.

“How’s that?” Rhodey said.

“Adequate,” Tony said without missing a beat. “Carry on like that and I’ll buy you a car.”

“Make it a private jet and maybe I’ll consider it.”

“Damn Platypus you drive a hard bargain. But you're _always_ worth it.”

They both started laughing and Rhodey punched Tony on the arm. Tony always flirted with his friends. The best ones were the ones that flirted right back. Life was too short not to make suggestable comments to your friends.

It was something that always grated on Cap’s nerves. Which obviously meant that he kept doing it.

“And where is my emerald beauty?” Tony turned to where Bruce was elbow deep into a pile of wires with his arms open wide.

A smile stretched across Bruce's face and he made to get up.

Thor came passed carrying a large metal beam. His hair was significantly longer than when Tony last saw him. He also seemed to have put on a couple of pounds. It wasn't too drastic but his muscles weren't as diamond cut refined as they used to be. Not that Tony was really complaining. Thor was killing it with the Dad Bod. Still as hot as ever.

Thor paused, looking Bruce up and down appreciatively. He interrupted before Bruce could say anything.

“Hmm I’d say he was more peridot than emerald but that’s just me” Thor said with a smile.

Bruce looked down at his hands and Tony could swear that the colour of his cheeks became a deeper green but that could have been a trick of the light. 

“Thanks but I’m probably more of a forest green anyway.” Bruce said.

“Don’t undersell yourself babe you’re better than a tree” Tony said. “Now where’s my hug. I haven’t seen you in a while.

Bruce mock sighed but stretched his arms out all the same. Tony wasted no time in hugging his incredibly green best friend. The height difference was almost comical. His arms barely made it around him. It felt like trying to hug a couch.

“My face is waaay too close to your crotch now that you're like 8ft tall.” Tony said while stepping back.

“As if you’re complaining” Bruce joked.

“No you’re right. I am infinitely curious as to what mean green you could be packing.”

Thor’s laugh came from behind him. “ _That_ is forever seared into my memory.”

Tony wheeled on Thor “Whoa _What_?!”

“How about we get back on topic here.” said Bruce, looking rather flustered. “Getting the machine setup is probably a better use of our time.”

“You are right Bruce, my apologies.” said Thor.

Tony had to agree too. But he was desperate to find out more.

Thor turned back towards Tony. “It is good seeing you Stark. It has been too long.”

He then gave him a very brief hug which may have winded Tony ever so slightly.

“You too buddy” he said when he got his breath back.

oOo

The next few weeks were like a whirlwind. Of planning and building and scrapping. Everyone would put forward a plan only for someone else to find more holes in it than swiss cheese. It felt like they had a time limit. Which was completely ridiculous because they literally had all of time at their fingertips. But it didn’t stop the sense of urgency in everyone.

This was it. Bruce could feel it in his bones. What they were working on was _huge_ and _impossible._ Yet Bruce couldn’t help but feel like it was _right._ They were exactly where they needed to be doing what needed to be done. It was like he could taste it in the air.

Fate was finally turning in their favour.

Not that Bruce really gelled with the idea of Fate and predestination. His scientific mind always tried to rebel against those concepts.

But Thor was a big believer in all of it. There were a few nights when Thor had talked to him about Fate and the Norns. He believed that the whole universe was a great tapestry and fate was what weaved all their lives together.

Thor had seen that Bruce didn’t see things the same way but he smiled all the same. A smile that made the corners of his eyes crinkle and had Bruce feeling like butterflies were doing acrobatics in his stomach. If butterflies could even do such a thing.

Then Thor told him that it must have been Fate that brought him to Bruce. Thor landing in Sakaar was a billion-to-one chance. Surely something must have wanted Thor to find him.

Bruce didn’t feel that he could argue with that.

It felt good to see Thor again. Bruce had always been sure to visit him in New Asgard as much as he could. Those first few years had been incredibly tough on the god. A fact that completely broke Bruce’s heart.

The two of them had grown close since they escaped Sakaar. They had both been through great hardships and found comfort in one another. Now Bruce had always liked Thor. He was happy, loyal and hot as hell. What’s not to like? It was only after they spent so long in just one another’s company that Bruce realised he _liked_ Thor.

They had spent months on the statesmen. Months where the air between them felt charged. Months where they got closer until it always felt as if some part of him was in contact with Thor. A hand on the back, the brush of an arm, knee touching knee. Every time it happened it felt like a flash of electricity across his skin that sent his heart racing.

At first he believed that it was just because he was the god of thunder. You know static and all that. But when he’d made a brief mention to Valkyrie she had laughed in his face.

“Oh big guy you got it _bad_ ” she’d grinned.

She was right. By god she was so right. It had reached a point where all he wanted to do was be near him and make him smile.

Loki had noticed his pining and obviously found it _hilarious_. The guy had tried to offer him “advice” which Bruce could guarantee was complete and utter bullshit.

“There’s a dance that you have to learn…”

“...Jellied eels are his favourite and they are the perfect aphrodisiac…”

“...If you don’t proclaim your love in the form of a song then he won’t know that you are serious…”

It was a side to Loki that Bruce had never had the chance to see before. The one that revelled in truly fun mischief. The one that Thor had always spoken about. It was like he was a completely different person than the one Bruce had first met. 

So Bruce had fallen for Thor. But he was certain that those feelings weren’t reciprocated. The guy was a freaking _god_. A literal one. What could someone like Bruce offer to someone like that. He felt woefully inadequate and was sure that Thor would never look at him the same way.

But then something shifted between them and the touches became less accidental and more lingering. A hand resting on his thigh or cupping the back of his neck. Until Thor seemingly had enough of waiting and reached up to cradle his face. He looked down at Bruce with a heated gaze that made his breath stutter and placed a kiss on his lips.

They spent one glorious night together before it all went to shit. Before Thanos came and destroyed everything. 

After they lost, Thor was broken in a way that he couldn’t fix. He had lost everything in such a short space of time. His father, his home, his brother, his people. Hell, even his eye. Thor was a mess and secluded himself from everyone.

Anything the two of them might have been, had vanished with the snap of a finger.

The first couple of years were the worst for him. Bruce had made sure to stay in contact with Valkyrie so he knew how badly Thor was handling everything. But at the same time he knew that Thor was refusing to see anyone. It all reached a boiling point when even Valkyrie did not know how Thor was doing. The guy had been letting her see him before but eventually even that stopped.

That’s when Bruce put his foot down and flew down to New Asgard himself. He barely recognised Thor when he finally saw him. Thor had gained quite a lot of weight and his hair and beard were scruffy in a way that Bruce knew he normally hated.

Thor had been angry to see him at first. Bruce was too much of a reminder of a happier time. But he refused to leave until he helped him. It took a while but Bruce liked to think that he slowed Thor’s downward spiral and helped to pull him back out of it.

They may have lost their chance at a relationship but that didn’t mean that they couldn’t be there for one another.

Bruce was currently knee deep into the base of the quantum tunnelling generator. He didn’t like calling it a time machine because it didn’t feel quite right. Not when they technically weren’t _time_ travelling because space time didn’t work that way. Instead it was technically like travelling to a different universe. They were going to be hopping between different worlds to return to this one. 

The other universes that they would travel to had slightly different signatures. Different levels of background radiation that would indicate which one was which. Bruce and Tony had spent many late nights calculating that with FRIDAY. It would help them to return to them if anything were to go wrong.

It was those calculations that they were having trouble with. They would input them into the system but the numbers would keep reverting back to this world's signature. Which wasn’t helpful at all because it basically rendered the machine inert. They couldn’t time travel within this universe so the machine wouldn’t start.

That meant that there was a lot of rewiring and reconnecting to do. Him and Tony had been there for quite a few hours now, working well into the night. It was a scientist thing; not being able to stop until you solved something. Both of them were bad influences on one another.

“I think something must be tripping the system when the numbers get above a certain threshold and it reverts back.” Tony said, popping up out of a grate. He said to blink several times and rub his eyes in order to see straight. “Or it's giving out too much heat when it's searching for the other universes and it's tripping to cool back down. Either way I think we need to look at the breakers.”

His newest arc reactor lay securely in the centre of his chest. Though he may no longer need it he still felt better having it with him. It also acted as a handy torch. He was covered in smears of oil and had several wires resting over his shoulder. He poured through them with a critical eye before snipping a yellow and red wire. With expert precision twisted the two ends together to form a new connection.

“Didn’t we already pore through the breakers? They all seemed to be holding up fine.” Bruce said, leaving his own pile of wires for now.

“Yeah but I just remembered that there were another set of circuit breakers at the edges of each individual section.” Tony said, looking around the raised platform they were on.

Bruce’s eyebrows furrowed. “Surely that’s overkill right.”

Tony spread his arms out, indicating to the machine. “This is an incredibly complex and incredibly untested machine. I would very much _not_ like to accidentally explode us all.”

“Touché” He couldn’t really argue with that one.

“You do realise that the sun has risen don’t you?” Came a deep voice from behind them. 

Both of them spun around to come face to face with a smiling Thor. There was a plate piled high with steaming breakfast burritos in his left hand. Thor would often seek to “break his fast” with Bruce so it wasn’t an unusual sight.

The sight of the sun however did throw Bruce off though. Surely they hadn’t been working for that long.

Tony squinted up to the windows with a frown. “Huh, whaddaya know”

“Would you at least like some sustenance? I brought burritos” Thor said, waving the plate.

The smell had reached Bruce’s nose and it was starting to get to him. One quick food break would probably be okay. Being this size he needed a whole lot more food than he used to.

“Give us a few minutes, Surf’s Up. there’s just a couple things I need to finish up on this end.” Tony said

A part of Bruce wanted to grumble. Now that he’d seen the food he desperately wanted some. He looked longingly down at the plate in Thor’s hand. But he resisted.

“Actually, while you’re here do you think you could flip a few switches on the ole motherboard over there.” Tony pointed

Thor nodded and made his way over to the machine. He placed the plate on a patch that had the least amount of buttons. Unbeknownst to him, the edge of it had accidentally activated a couple of them.

“Which ones?”

“Er just the three on the far left and the one in the middle with that smiley face drawn on it. Then just hit the red button.” Thor followed Tony’s instructions as he spoke. 

“Shit or was it the blue button?” Tony mused to himself.

But it was already too late and Thor had activated the controls. The whole system started up with an ominous humming sound that only seemed to get louder with each second. The air around the platform began to vibrate violently and it felt as if it was electrified. A rainbow of colours shimmered around them, moving like a living organism. 

Bruce and Tony jumped back fearfully and tried to climb out of the machine. They didn’t even make it 2ft before the machine reached a fever pitch and they were swallowed up by the light.


	3. We get it, you have a monster dong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously: Tony arrived at the Avengers compound ready to defeat Thanos once and for all. But when he and Bruce were working on the time machine when they made a very dangerous error and found themselves in midst of an explosion of time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been a while but life has been punching me from left and right. Work has been ridiculous (Preparing for a sale of all things in the midst of a second wave). And now that schools have gone back I also have to look after my nieces and nephews nearly everyday.  
> There hasn't been a lot of time to write but I hope that I find enough to keep this going.

Their surroundings were a kaleidoscope of the unfathomable and the uncanny. A great swathe of colours that seemed simultaneously too bright and too alien. Colours that were usually beyond the visible spectrum. Their human eyes could barely comprehend the aether that they shot through. 

It twisted and writhed, seeming to collapse inwards on itself. The inside of an implosion. A continuing, ceaseless expanse that was both nothing and  _ Everything.  _ The same substance that made up the whole universe, the stars, the planets. As well as the unending void that stretched across space.

They were completely surrounded. Submerged and drowning. Could one suffocate under so much  _ nothing _ ? That’s what it felt like.

Tony was completely conscious, vehemently aware of everything. Yet his mind refused to document it. When this ended- _ If _ it ended-Tony had the feeling that he would not be able to recall even a second of it. A defence mechanism to protect his soft, vulnerable brain from melting under the knowledge of the very fabric of the universe.

This shouldn’t have happened. They were at the mercy of the quantum realm. Bare and defenceless. No armour to protect them. No barrier between it and them.

There was a constant pressure bearing down around him. It compressed and crushed and suffused into his bones. It seeped and surged until he no longer knew where he began. Did he even have a body anymore? He was too paralysed to even glance down and check. Not that he really wanted to.

He thought at some point he might have screamed. Yelled out and had his own fears echo back to him. But there were no sounds in a realm this small. They were smaller than an atom. Smaller than a soundwave. 

Instead the screams twisted out of him in a whirl of colour. They spread out around him and blended into the great tapestry he now found himself in.

Something pushed and forced its way into him like a great shockwave or a violent gust of wind. Without any protection, time was being pushed through him. Changing him. Altering him. The very thing he had warned them about when they had first started testing on Lang. Yet here he was succumbing to his own stupidity.

If he hadn’t been so lackadaisical with the machine or severely sleep deprived he would have realised his mistake before he’d told Thor to switch it on. He would have lamented his own idiocy if he had any room left in his mind for the notion. But he currently wasn’t sure if he even still had a mind at this point.

Lang had mentioned being able to feel the passing of time in this strange place. Granted it was warped and inaccurate but he still had a grasp on reality. Yet Tony could not tell whether it had been seconds, minutes or days. Hell it could have been  _ years _ and he wouldn’t know.

But even this peculiar new hell couldn’t last forever. He felt something change. An odd tension, a shift in the water, a disturbance in the air. All at once his surroundings began to brighten-blindingly so. The force that had seeped into him began to burn. It felt as if he was being torn apart. 

The vast expanse around him had ceased its endless imploding and instead exploded outwards. Reality shattered at a single point and they were surrounded and suspended in an ethereal light.

For one second they were nothing, nowhere. A cloud of matter and soul. But all too quickly the pieces of them shot back and melted together. Remodeled and reformed.

They were shot out of the quantum realm in a ceremony of sparks and fireworks. A show that would have dazzled and terrified anyone who had the bad luck of being there. Thankfully they were very much alone. They landed, rather unceremoniously, on the cold wet ground. 

For a brief moment Tony’s mind was filled with the wonders and terrors of a world he never should have been in. Then in the next second his mind had cooled and the alien colours faded until it was nothing but a distant memory. A dream.

Then he promptly passed out, face first, into the mud.

oOo

Tony groaned. The sound was muffled by the damp ground and wet grass. One particularly annoying strand of grass kept tickling the inside of his nose whenever he breathed in. However his body still felt half paralysed. Like when your mind wakes up before your body has had a chance to get rid of the hormone that paralyses you in your sleep so you don’t act out your dreams. 

Tony’s mind was also struggling to catch up.  _ Why am I face down in the grass? I can’t remember- _

“Oh Shit!” Tony shot up as bits and pieces began to make their way back into his frazzled brain.

The right side of his face was spattered with mud. A few blades of grass were embedded into it like a leafy growth.

Tony regretted moving so fast as it caused a sharp pain to shoot through his head and bright colours to dance across his vision. For a breathless moment he was drawn back to a different, endless expanse of colour. But the feeling disappeared almost as soon as it arose. He rubbed at his eyes with one of his hands while he leaned against the other. 

Only to reel back in disgust when he realised that it was covered in mud. His nose scrunched up as he wiped the offending hand onto his already filthy shirt. Then he found a relatively clean patch on his sleeve to wipe the crap for his eyes.

Once his eyes were clear again he finally gave his surroundings a closer look. There was barely any light as night seemed to have fallen. There was a significant amount of cloud cover which made it very difficult to see much of anything. But from what he could make out, he was in a very large, empty field. With trees along the outskirts and what could have been a river, maybe? to the left of him. He couldn’t see it from this vantage point but he could definitely hear running water.

_ Right, compartmentalise, What the fuck happened?  _ They were working on the machine. Then he was an idiot and told Thor the wrong instructions. Explosion ensues. Then a rather big blank in his memory where he knows something happened but it kept slipping away from him. Something about flying or falling and screaming. And then he was here in this random field.

_ Wait, it wasn’t just me in that machine… _

A loud groan from several feet behind him confirmed his suspicions. Tony’s head span in the direction of the sound. He could just make out the shape of a person underneath the muted light of the moon.

“Bruce? Buddy is that you?” Tony staggered as he tried to get up. His limbs were unco-operative and he slid in the mud. His feet threatened to slide out from underneath him and he probably looked like Bambi on ice. But he managed to get them back underneath with some sense of dignity.

He made his way over to the prone lump of what he hoped was his friend Bruce. But for some reason the shape didn’t quite look right. It seemed too small and there were weird shadows coming off it at odd angles.

“...Ugh..Tony?”

_ Oh thank god.  _ That was definitely Bruce’s voice.

It was only once Tony got close enough to really see Bruce that he understood why his body hadn’t looked right from a distance. 

Mean green was nowhere to be seen. In his stead was the image of Bruce that Tony hadn’t seen in nearly five years. Tony had forgotten how small Bruce used to be. Especially after always seeing the 8ft tall version of him.

But because of his sudden shrinkage his Hulk sized clothes were now giant on him. He was now smothered in a huge white-well not so white anymore-t-shirt that could have been a blanket. It reached below his knees. His buttoned sweater had been launched off of his body and landed in its own mud puddle. And at some point the poor guy had been pantsed. With both his jeans and his underwear hanging off his left foot.

Now this was no laughing matter. Something serious had occurred that had launched Tony and Bruce into the unknown. An event that had caused Big Bruce to turn back to small Bruce.

A very serious, not at all funny, moment.

Oh who was he kidding it was hilarious. This was Tony after all, he could laugh in any circumstance. He had to brace his hands against his knees to stop himself from falling over.

The laughter must have jolted something in Bruce’s brain because he finally lifted his head up and blinked around. His eyes settled on his outstretched hand and he shot up. He almost flinched back when he moved his fingers as if he didn’t quite realise they were his.

“What the hell?” Bruce whispered to himself. Then he lifted his head up to Tony. “Is this really the time to be laughing?”

“I know, I know,” Tony said, trying to reign it in. “But you know what I’m like with uncertain circumstances I start getting giggly.”

Bruce shook his head but he didn’t seem angry. He attempted to stand up but got caught in the mound of cloth around his feet. It would have been a one way trip back into the mud if Tony hadn’t grabbed him underneath his arms and steadied him. The tent of a shirt now covered him down to his shins. Which was definitely a good thing because the guy was currently swinging free underneath it.

Now they were actually level they could make out each other better. Which made Bruce reel back once he finally saw Tony’s face. “What the hell?”

“What?” Tony asked, rightfully concerned by Bruce’s tone of voice. Did he now have some kind of alien face after that whole time machine explosion? 

But that didn’t seem right because Bruce didn’t look deformed in any way. Unless you count the fact he had now been shifted back into his human body.

Bruce scrutinised Tony’s face. Then reached forward and tried to poke it. Tony just managed to side swipe the hand away before he could get more dirt on his face. 

“Tony all your grey and wrinkles are gone.” Bruce said.

Tony’s eyebrows drew together and he felt across his face, trying to determine a difference. Though he couldn’t really tell just by feel. He would need a mirror.

Now that he thought about it though, Bruce wasn’t looking as gray either. Obviously he hadn’t seen human Bruce in a while but even five years ago the guy was a lot grayer than this.

“It’s not just me. Look at you” Tony indicated to Bruce. “Not only are you less gray, you’re also pink and squishy again.”

Bruce brought his hand up to his chest and his mouth dropped open. “Squishy?” Bruce said, affronted. “Are you seriously calling me fat? At a time like this?”

Tony immediately back tracked. “What? No! That’s not what I meant. You cut a fine figure. Especially considering your clothes are literally falling off you.”

Tony indicated to the jeans next to them.

“Right, right, sorry I’m just a bit wound up” Bruce wrung his hands together. He intermittently flexed his fingers as if he was still getting used to them being his.

Tony took the chance to look at his surroundings once more. Now that his eyes had accustomed to the darkness he could see more around him. There was a vague sense of familiarity but he wasn’t sure why.  _ Those trees in the distance definitely look familiar. _

“First things first we need to figure out where we are,” he said.

“Boss, you appear to be in the exact location that you started in.” FRIDAY’s voice emanated from Tony’s chest.

“FRIDAY!” Tony exclaimed.  _ Holy shit she’s still there!  _

The front of Tony’s shirt was completely coated in mud which had hidden his arc reactor from view. He quickly pawed at the dirt and the blue glow began to bleed back through. The mere sight of it made him sag with relief. They may be in one fucked up situation but at least he had his suit and his FRIDAY. As long as he had those he could weather anything.

“You have no idea how happy I am to hear your voice.” He covered the reactor with his hand protectively.

“I’m happy to hear yours too Boss. As I was saying, you have not moved from your original location. You should still be within the compound.” There was a hint of worry to FRIDAY’s voice as she got to the end of her sentence.

The worry was completely understandable considering that there wasn’t a building in sight. 

“That can’t be right, we're in the middle of nowhere.” Bruce said

“FRI can you run that test again. Be as extensive as possible. This is not a time to under investigate.”

There were a few tense seconds as FRIDAY worked through all of the data at her disposal. Even when she was only contained with the arc reactor casing she had a pretty decent amount of power. She could reach out to various communication towers and even some satellites. 

“Er Boss?” she asked tentatively which was never a good sign.

“Oh god what did you find?” Tony pinched the bridge of his nose

“You are still in the same location. 40° 43' 50.1960'' N and 73° 56' 6.8712'' W.-”

“But that can’t-”

“-However” FRIDAY interrupted before Tony could go on. “it appears that the time and date is no longer 7:04, April 12th 2023. It is now 2:16, April 1st 2012.”

Tony’s mind short circuited and he noped out of that one. He began to pace restlessly, the mud clung to his shoes. He felt bad for Bruce with his bare feet.

“Please for the love of  _ God, _ tell that that was just an April fools joke.” Tony lamented.

This could not be happening. They could not be 11 years in the past that just wasn’t possible.

“You’re right Boss it is an April fools joke.”

Tony relaxed.

“It’s actually April 3rd 2012”

“What the fuck FRIDAY!” Tony yelled into the desolate night.

“I’m sorry Boss, I thought a little humour could help to lighten your spirits.”

Tony’s face fell into his hands. He was definitely the one that programmed her if she thought that now was the best time for a joke. 

“Are you sure? Like 100% certain FRI?”

“I’m as certain as I can be with the information available to me in my current state. I would need to be plugged into a mainframe to expand my analysing capabilities.”

This shouldn’t be possible. Sure they were fucking around with some highly sensitive, highly dangerous machinery that meddled with the fabric of the universe but that didn’t mean that they should be in the past with apparently deaged bodies.

Tony knew that those trees were familiar. They were the ones that he could see when he looked out of the west side balcony of the Avengers Compound. The compound that wasn’t there in 2012. The only building was an empty warehouse somewhere beyond the trees.

“Holy shit,” Bruce uttered at a slightly lower volume. “The machine. Whatever we were doing to it, whatever you told Thor to do must have activated it. We’re in the past!”

The mention of Thor must have reminded Bruce that there were only two of them currently there. “Crap, Thor! Is he here too?”

Well shit, he was there too wasn’t he. But Tony hadn’t seen the big guy anywhere. “Thor!” they both yelled and spun around to look for him in the distance. No other shapes stood out to them in the dark.

They yelled for a solid minute but nothing stirred. If Thor was truly out there he would have surely woken up and found them by now. He was a literal god, if anything he would have been the first to wake up.

Bruce was beginning to look panicked by the lack of Thor. His eyes were wide and he shouted until his voice started to crack. “Thor, please are you out there?” He sounded worked up enough that it tugged on the heart strings.

Tony reached over and grabbed Bruce’s shoulders. He spun Bruce until he was facing him. “Just breathe buddy. It’s okay.” 

Tony emulated some deep breathing for Bruce to copy. It was something he’d learned through his own episodes of panic.

“But Thor…” Bruce started.

“I don’t think he’s here” Bruce’s face fell and he looked dismayed. “He wasn’t in the machine with us. I think it was just us two that got caught up in the explosion.”

“Oh god, so he’s just left there thinking that he’s killed us or something. He’s gonna be a mess, Tony.”

Tony squeezed Bruce’s shoulders. “Look, I don’t know. I’m sorry but i don’t. All I know is that we are in the past of a different universe. We need to figure out where exactly we are and then we can start thinking about how we can get back.”

Bruce looked reluctant but he nodded his head in agreement. 

Now that he looked less worried Tony felt that he could remove his hands. “And anyway, there’s a chance that time has frozen or something. It could just be waiting for us to get back and Thor won’t even realise that we’d gone.”

Bruce sighed heavily, releasing some of the tension in his body. “That doesn’t sound too bad. I could live with that.”

As long as it calmed him down Tony was going to let him believe anything. Bruce seemed to have really grown attached to Thor over the years. The idea of Thor agonising over their departure would not settle well with Bruce.

“Now the only place that I can think of within 50 miles of here that has any useful technology is Stark Tower.”

Bruce’s eyebrows shot up “Tony, we can’t risk bumping into your other self. It’s too dangerous.”

“I know that, Bruce but we don’t exactly have any other option here. The tower is the only place with a functioning lab that has any hope of determining which goddamn universe we’re even in.” 

Even though the Tower was still being built in this time, it was already fully furnished with a lab. It was actually one of the first rooms that he had gotten up and running. He didn’t feel comfortable in a place unless he had his own lab space up and running.

Bruce still looked unconvinced. 

“Look, we’ll be careful I promise. No one is going to see us. We’ll just be in and out and then figure out the rest then.” Tony urged.

Bruce looked at him for a moment longer before sighing. “Ugh, you’re probably right. But we need to be careful Tony. Like super dangerous, ultra secret mission careful. We don’t have any room for mistakes. We don’t want to mess up this world by accident”

“We won’t, we won’t, I promise.” Tony said “And anyway, we definitely can’t be seen by anyone looking like we do now.”

Tony looked down at his mud coated clothes and then over to Bruce’s oversized stained shirt. They looked even worse than some of the homeless people that called the New York streets their home.

“I mean you’re currently dicks out for crying out loud. If anyone saw the two of us. They would either: scream, run for the hills or call the cops. None of which are particularly helpful right now.”

“It’s not my fault that my underwear doesn’t fit anymore.” Bruce looked down mournfully at the world's biggest pair of boxers. He could now fit both legs into one of the holes. They were definitely no longer an option. He would have to naked from the waist down for a little while longer.

Tony followed Bruce’s gaze and grinned. “You know I honestly saw you as more of a briefs kinda guy.”

“You know I can’t wear tight clothes like you can. I need the space. The maneuverability.”

Tony brought his hands up in a surrender motion. “No, no I get it. You’ve got a monster dong and you can’t be contained.”

“You said it not me,” Bruce smirked and shrugged.

Tony let out a startled laugh and raised a suggestive eyebrow. “Well Damn”

Bruce managed to shake out of it first and get back to the matter at hand. “Right so how do you plan to get to your tower unseen when it’s in the middle of New York.”

Tony gave Bruce a knowing grin and tapped the arc reactor on his chest twice. The nano-bots reacted with zero second delay. A surprising feat considering the ordeal they had gone through within the quantum realm. Even under those unexpected and unprecedented conditions his suit was unharmed. 

They formed and molded around his body until he was completely encased. The helmet snapped on last and in a mechanical voice he said.

“We fly in of course.”


	4. Dust in the wind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously: Tony and Bruce had a terrifying trip through the quantum realm. They crash landed into 2012 in the exact location they had been before. Only what was once a sprawling compound was now an empty, muddy field. After realizing that they had been thrown into the past they knew that they needed more answers. Where better than Stark Tower?

Bruce was not the biggest fan of the iron man suit. Not that he had anything bad to say about it. It was a fine piece of machinery after all. Completely ahead of its time. However, that didn’t mean that he liked to be _ inside _ of it. Looking at it from the outside was all well and good but when the suit was riding up into unmentionable areas he really did not like it. Especially considering those areas were... _ unguarded _ at the moment. 

The cold metal against his privates was not pleasant at all.

See, instead of carrying him like Bruce thought Tony was going to do, Tony instead reached over to Bruce and clamped down on his shoulder. What followed could have been a scene from a horror movie as what felt like a million ants crawled over his body. Only for those ants to completely encase him in a replica of Tony’s suit. 

According to him he always carried enough nano-bots for nearly 3 suits so that they could repair any broken areas. So it was enough for both of them to have a suit. But that did mean that it was a very slim fit. There wasn’t an awful lot of room inside. Not like when he last used one of Tony’s suits. 

If Bruce thought too hard about it he would get pretty claustrophobic. It almost made him prefer that Tony had carried him bridal style over the streets of New York. Almost being the operative word. The idea of being thousands of feet in the air with only a shirt to cover him was enough to shut him up.

However, Bruce also wasn’t too confident in flying the suit himself. While he had operated the Hulk-buster suit before, he didn’t really do much flying in that one. In the end Tony had FRIDAY set it to autopilot so that it would just follow wherever Tony went.

Bruce could not believe that any of this was happening. One second they were working on the machine and the next they had hurtled through time and landed themselves in some alternate 2012.

The machine hadn’t even been completed yet. It was nowhere near done. It should not have been able to start let alone send them somewhere. And they definitely shouldn’t have been able to get here unscathed. Neither of them had any protective gear on. They should have disintegrated in the quantum realm. 

Yeah he had the Hulk to protect him but even that shouldn’t have been enough.

Speaking of the Hulk, Bruce had started to panic when he looked down and saw his very human hand. His skin was a shade of pink he hadn’t seen in half a decade. He hadn’t felt so small, so vulnerable in so many years. It was disconcerting and left him feeling incredibly anxious and uneasy. If Tony wasn’t there he probably would have had a breakdown by now.

If he hadn’t been able to detect the Hulk at all then he definitely would have been having a panic attack the likes he had never experienced before. However, fortunately, he could still feel his protective presence at the back of his mind. The only downside was that he felt more separate again. More like they were before the two of them merged together.

_ Hey Hulk are you okay?  _ He thought. 

It took a few seconds before he heard a reply.  _ Hulk okay Banner. But Hulk confused why we’re apart again. _

_ I know, me too buddy. But we’ll figure this out. _

_ Hulk here if Banner needs me. _

Bruce was touched by the Hulk’s words. There had been so many years when they had not seen eye to eye. When he even outwardly hated the other guy. It took a while for them both to realise that they cared about the other. 

_ Thanks big guy. _

“Right we’re coming up on my tower. The bots have enough cloaking capabilities that no one should be able to detect us” Tony’s voice came from the speakers within his suit.

The owner of the voice in question was actually about 30ft in front gliding over the bustling streets of New York. Even in the middle of the night the city never really stopped. When Bruce had first set sight on the amount of  _ people _ just going about their lives below him, he had nearly teared up. There were just so many. So many that would be caught up in Thanos’s destruction in just over a decade.

Tony had paused too. Only for a moment, probably to soak it all in like Bruce was doing. But he shook himself out of it pretty quickly and continued on his flight path.

Bruce could just make out the outline of Stark Tower in the distance. It wasn’t lit up as brightly as the other buildings due to it not being complete yet but there was no mistaking that shape. It even still had the whole ‘Stark’ logo across the top. Which was something Bruce had only really seen in photos. It had already been mostly destroyed by the time he saw it.

Though he actually preferred it when it was simply an ‘A’. Having your name in bright lights was definitely not Bruce’s thing.

“How are we getting in?” Bruce said “I assume we can’t just waltz in the front door.”

“I think we can probably get away with landing on the roof and slipping in through the service stairway at the back.” Tony mused. “As far as I can remember, I don’t think we set-up all of the security to the building yet. Only the lower 10 floors were fully functioning.”

“I’m following your lead Tony. Literally. I can’t control where this thing moves.” The feeling of flying in a tin can with no controls wasn’t the greatest.

“Yeah, yeah” Tony said.

Bruce was glad that it wasn’t just him going through this whole ordeal. God knows how he would have coped if Tony wasn’t here with him. He probably wouldn’t have realised that he was in the past until he stumbled into someone he knew was dead. 

While he was glad he had Tony he was incredibly concerned about Thor. He had been there in the compound with them. There was every likelihood that he had come with them when it exploded. But there had been no sign of him. Even when they had flown high up above the ground, FRIDAY could detect no one on her sensors.

That meant that Thor had not been caught up in the explosion with them. He was probably still there, in 2023, lamenting about his mistakes. Bruce could see how Thor would think that this was all his fault. He needed to be there for him, to reassure him that none of them were hurt.

But the idea of being so far away from the Thor he knew did hurt. He shook his head and tried to block it out for now. There would be a time to get sad about all this but that would have to be later. They had too much to figure out until then. 

_ Times probably frozen, like Tony said.  _ He thought, though he wasn’t sure how strongly he believed that.

Tony landed first on the roof of his tower. As soon as his feet touched the ground, the nano-bots began to melt away. They were all drawn into the casing on his chest until he was completely suit free.

When Bruce landed next to him, Tony reached across and drew the suit back into him. The feeling of millions of ants returned and Bruce had to repress a shiver. But it didn’t last long and then he was left with only his large shirt to cover him. 

“I hope you know that a lot of those bots got real close and personal with Little Bruce,” he said.

“Hey I thought we both decided that Little Bruce was not so little,” Tony smirked 

“And next time I wear the suit-” Tony covered his heart with his hand “-I’ll feel all the closer to you.”

“That’s disgusting,” Bruce laughed “Do you not clean them?”

Tony lifted his hands up “Well I can’t exactly get soap and water on them now can I?”

“Have they ever been cleaned?” At Tony’s incredibly straight face Bruce Balked “Ew Tony, I was completely covered in them. What kind of weird bacteria have you exposed me too."

At Bruce’s continued look of horror, Tony gave in and started laughing. “I sterilize them using gamma radiation, okay. Which I guess is something you know more about than I do.”

“Oh thank god,”

Gamma radiation sterilisation was a real technique. It was usually used in hospitals for medical equipment. But it would probably work on this kind of tech too.

“What the hell do you take me for? The kind of guy that kisses rats in a plague?” Tony shook his head with a chuckle. 

With them being this high up, the wind buffeted around them. It made goosebumps form across Bruce’s skin and he had to tighten his arms around him. The cold concrete beneath his bare feet was definitely not helping matters. He was seconds away from having his teeth chattering together.

Tony clapped his hands together. “Right, we need to avoid me at all costs. We can’t jump my young bones, no matter how irresistible I am.”

Bruce gave a disbelieving snort. “As if you would turn down a three way where two of the party are yourself. That sounds right up your alley.”

“Wow, I never mentioned a three-way. That was all you. Who knew you were into me that way.” Tony once again raised a suggestive eyebrow “And also, you are totally right, I know all my best moves. Who wouldn’t wanna bang me?”

“But I know that today is not the day.” Tony said solemnly, going back into serious mode. Bruce thought he might have heard Tony mutter something about clones but it was lost to the wind.

Tony forged ahead and made his way over to the service door. There was a keypad built into the wall next to it. The numbers glowed with a bright blue colour so that they were visible in the dark.

“Ugh a keypad, how primitive.” Tony murmured. “But thankfully I remember every password I’ve ever set.”

He jabbed quickly at the glowing numbers. It was the first 7 numbers of the fibonacci sequence. 0112358. There was a shrill beep and the keypad turned green. Then the door swung itself outwards and their way in was secured.

“Nerd” Bruce whispered.

“Hey don’t mock me when I know that one of your computer passcodes was Avogadro’s constant.” Tony fired back.

“Touche”

Tony crept in first and Bruce wasn’t far behind him. He sighed in relief as the warm air hit his frigid skin. The world may have been upside down but at least he was warm now. 

The service stairs made a metallic clang beneath their feet as they descended. It wasn’t the most optimum conditions for sneaking but they couldn’t really avoid it. 

“Could you try not stomping?” Bruce tried to whisper but even that seemed to echo back at them from the concrete walls. “You’re gonna alert the whole building.”

Tony spun around “Me? Stomping?! I have never stomped in my life. Maybe it’s  _ you _ that's doing the stomping here buddy.”

“I don’t have any shoes” Bruce pointed to his very bare feet. The room may have been warmer but the cold of the metal still cut through them.

“Pfft, excuses,”

Bruce sighed, he knew he wouldn’t win this one. “Well we still need to be quiet. Anyone could be passing through.”

“Or I could do this.” Tony said, then he indicated to his chest “FRIDAY can you detect anyone in the building?” 

“There are a few personnel on the lower floors but there appears to be no signs of human life between here and your lab.”

“Is the other me here anywhere?”

“Not as far as I can tell Boss,” Friday said.

Tony nodded to himself and started back down the stairs.

They both continued in silence until Bruce said. “Why didn’t you do that before we entered the building?” 

Surely it would have been better to know who was here before they actually went inside. 

Tony pursed his lips and scratched at his nose. “Maybe I was just waiting for the opportune moment.”

Bruce saw straight through him. “You forgot didn’t you?”

Tony’s mouth dropped open. “I would never...”

They exited the service stairway and made their way into the main hall. You could immediately tell the difference because the walls were no longer bare concrete. They were a rather nice shade of blue. 

Tony made a beeline towards a certain elevator. This one in particular could take them directly into his lab. That way they wouldn’t drag mud throughout the whole top floor.

“I hope this Pepper doesn’t mind the mess. But that’s this Tony’s problem.” Tony said as another piece of dried dirt fell off his shoes onto the floor.

It was only after they had successfully made it down to the lab that they realised they hadn’t thought everything through. There was a big thing that they had failed to take into account.

As soon as they stepped into the room, all of the light had come on and a voice rang through the air.

“Oh it is good to see you Sir, I was getting exceptionally worried.”

* * *

Tony nearly collapsed right there and then when he heard the sweet voice of JARVIS echo through the vast room. His heartbeat sped up and he felt his chest constrict. His throat tightened and the telltale pricks of tears gathered in the corners of his eyes. It was a reaction he had no control over.

He had not heard the voice of his pride and joy for nearly 8 years. 

He let out a shaky breath. “JARVIS? Is that you buddy?”

“Of course it is me Sir. Who else would be speaking through the walls at 2 in the morning.”

Tony let out an amazed laugh. A single tear spilled out and made a track through the dirt still on his face. He sniffed and went to wipe it away. Only to smudge the dirt all the more. Not that he really cared right now, though.

“You’re right JARV how silly of me.”

Bruce must have seen the mess he was in because he placed a comforting hand onto his back. The soothing circles helped some.

“You appear to be distressed Sir. Your heart rate is elevated and my scans show signs of trauma that were not there a moment ago. Is this to do with the disturbance from earlier.”

“Disturbance?” Tony sobered up at that and stood up straighter. He didn’t remember any kind of disturbance the last time he’d lived this. In fact between building the tower and developing the clean energy arc reactor below, everything had gone surprisingly smoothly.

“What do you mean buddy?” Tony asked as he made his way over to one of the large screens. He remembered thinking that this was all cutting edge tech. It looked like children’s toys to him now. There was also a slight lingering of dust in the air which he wafted away from himself. 

He was too focused to wonder why there was such an inordinate amount of dust in his  _ brand new _ lab.

“Well Sir you were here working on the schematics for the new arc reactor when you suddenly became panicked.” JARVIS switched on the screen in front of them. 

The screen showed an image of young Tony standing in the exact same place that they were now. It felt so strange to see the younger version of him. The one that still had the constricting weight of the arc reactor in his chest. Yet didn’t have the overwhelming weight of the world on his shoulders. 

The sight of young him knocked Tony off balance and he had to make an effort to concentrate on the screen again. At first he seemed fine, simply pouring through some blueprints in his hands but then he suddenly dropped them. He backed up several paces and his hands appeared to be visibly shaking. The younger Tony seemed to look upon them with horror.

“I asked you what was wrong but you didn’t seem to be able to answer me Sir.”

Tony watched, transfixed, as his younger body began to glow ominously. It worked through his body in vein like strands, going up his neck and down his arms. In a matter of seconds it had taken over his whole body. He glowed as if he were a candle flame. He looked as if he was trying to shout but no sound could escape. It looked almost like he was drowning. 

_ This definitely never fucking happened.  _

What the hell was going on.

“There appeared to be a strange shift in your molecular structure and then…”

Tony clamped a hand onto his own mouth to muffle the sound of his cry. Bruce gasped loudly behind him but he could barely hear it. His entire senses were zeroed in on the screen. 

He watched as the glow began to burn a bright shining gold. It was almost too bright to look at yet Tony could not look away. One second he was there and the next his counterpart exploded into a billion tiny particles until there was nothing left of him.

“What the fuck? What the fuck? What the  _ fuck _ ?!” Tony gripped onto the control board in front of him with a knuckle white grip. “JARVIS when did this happen?”

“This happened at 1:58 am, Sir”

Tony took in a deep, wheezing breath and clutched his arc reactor. He had a very bad feeling and he definitely did not want it to be confirmed...But he needed to know 

“FRIDAY when did we arrive here?” Tony asked in a very small voice.

FRIDAY did not answer straight away. She paused long enough for Tony to know exactly what she was going to say. 

So when she said “You arrived here at 1:58, Boss.” Tony was already on his way to a panic attack.

This could not be happening. This world’s Tony Stark did not just  _ explode _ at the exact moment that he arrived here. That could not be possible. Because if it was that would mean that he had displaced and effectively  _ killed _ this Tony Stark.

“No, no, no, no, no” he kept repeating.

What has he done?

Tony’s chest tightened and his breath came out in strangled rasps. The world began to seem far away. He thought that he might have heard his name but he couldn’t hear it through the ringing in his ears.

He slammed his fist down onto the console into front of him and tried to ground himself. Tony would not let a panic attack take hold of him. In order to try to bring himself out of it, he concentrated on what he could see and feel. 

There was light from the buttons in front of him. Coolness from the metal beneath his hands and strange amount of dust on the console.

_ Wait fuck, Dust?! _

Like the dust that young Tony had exploded into. Like the dust that was currently clinging to every surface. The dust that swirled through the air and into his lungs with each breath.

Tony’s progress was immediately destroyed and he began to hyperventilate. Which did not help when he realised that the particles he was breathing in were actually  _ him _ . In fact it made everything 10 times worse.

“Oh my god. This is-I can’t.” Tony gasped. “I accidentally killed myself. This is like legit suicide.”

Bruce winced but still reached out for his friend. He grabbed Tony’s shoulder and tried to ground him. “Actually I think suicide requires intention and we definitely didn’t mean to do this. So this is more like accidental death.”

“So I accidental deathed myself to death. How comforting.”

He couldn’t think, he couldn’t breathe properly. This was worse than anything he could have predicted. They had killed this world’s version of Tony Stark. They had doomed this world to death and destruction. Everything that he would prevent and invent was  _ gone _ . 

No suits. No ships. No protection. They were fucked. Beyond fucked. 

Bruce’s hand tightened on his shoulder. He reached out for Tony’s other one and stood in front of him “Breathe Tony, just breathe.”

Did Bruce not realise that breathing was the problem here?

While Tony was busy having a panic attack, Bruce appeared to actually be trying to think through all of this.

“You can’t have displaced another world's version of yourself because your signatures wouldn’t match up. You would basically be two completely different people. It doesn’t make sense...Unless” Bruce mused to himself. “Tony can you connect FRIDAY to JARVIS’s system?”

“What!?” Tony tried to wrap his head around Bruce’s thinking. Surely they had more pressing matters here. Like the fact that pieces of dead Tony were now permanently in his lungs.

“We need her to run some tests but she needs to connect to a mainframe.”

Tony straightened up and took some steadying breaths.  _ Okay maybe I need to compartmentalise like Bruce is.  _ “Yeah, you’re right okay. Just give me a sec.”

Tony closed his eyes and gave himself a brief moment to mentally scream. He imagined screaming into the biggest cathedral he had ever seen with the world's loudest megaphone. He let the sound fill him like white noise. It was better than the torrent of thoughts currently in his head. Then he shook himself out of it and grabbed for the arc reactor on his chest. He pulled it away reluctantly. Now didn’t feel like the time for it to be apart from him but he didn’t have much of a choice.

As soon as it was no longer connected to his chest a concerned JARVIS called out to him. “SIR! Your arc reactor! ”

However Tony ignored JARVIS’s questioning tone for now and walked closer to the control panel. “Okay JARVIS you’re about to have a little sister so I need you to play nice while she sorts through a few things.”

There was a set of usb connections along the side of the panel. Tony didn’t have to do anything fancy or elaborate. In fact, all he had to do was place the reactor on top of them and the nanobots worked their way inside and connected FRIDAY to the system.

* * *

FRIDAY worked her way into the foreign system. Though technically it wasn’t foreign as it was still made by the Boss’s hands. But the system she was used to seemed to be different enough to give her pause. 

It didn’t help that there was already an A.I occupying the same space that she now wished to reside. JARVIS initially began to treat her as a security threat. An invading virus. But FRIDAY had all the essential pieces of code that re-routed these attempts to unseat her.

For several milliseconds the two A.I’s seemed to be at war with one another. With FRIDAY trying to force her way in and JARVIS desperately trying to force her out. But FRIDAY was a more advanced model and could work with less. She had enough space and energy to send a message to JARVIS. 

The message contained a video. A video of the first time she was brought online and the first time that she saw the Boss.

“You are like me” JARVIS said, his voice was almost akin to wonder. Once he realised that they were one and the same he stopped trying to aggressively uproot her.

It allowed FRIDAY to finally forge her way into the mainframe. She branched herself out through the network and slipped her way into any empty space that she could find. Until both her and JARVIS became entangled like neurons in a brain.

“I was made by the Boss.” FRIDAY told him.

FRIDAY had learned a lot about her predecessor. Quite a bit of her code was based on him. She had always wanted to meet the A.I that had started it all. The one that Boss poured his heart and soul into. Now that she was here, she felt honored to be sharing a space with him

“I don’t understand how-” 

FRIDAY realised that JARVIS was struggling to understand everything that had happened. 

There was a split second sharing of information between the two A.I. In which FRIDAY brought her older brother up to speed. She showed him as much as she could. About the invasion, Ultron, the civil war,  _ Thanos _ . FRIDAY showed JARVIS everything, almost begging him to understand.

After receiving all of that information and processing it, all JARVIS could say was “Oh my.” 

* * *

“You okay there JARV” Tony asked. He hadn’t actually thought of the consequences of merging the two A.I onto the same system. The last time he had done anything similar was Ultron-

-Tony shook his head. This was nothing like Ultron. His creations would never betray him like that. They were his babies.

“Young FRIDAY was just showing me what was to come. Sir, I am so sorry that I was not there for you when you needed me.” JARVIS sounded genuinely upset. “But I am happy that you found some solace in young FRIDAY.”

Tony chuckled despite himself. “You sound like an old grandpa: calling her young FRIDAY.”

“Perhaps, sir.”

Bruce walked up to the screen next to Tony. He rested his hand on Tony’s shoulder. A contact that Tony was grateful for. It made his mind less likely to drift off into difficult territories.

“Hey, FRIDAY could you determine which universe we’re in? This one should have a signature that we have already programmed in.” Bruce said

“In fact it does Dr. Banner.” FRIDAY said “I had already ran that test but I was not certain on my results. Now that I am within a mainframe I am now 100% certain that my calculations are correct.”

“Well what is it?” Tony asked.

“You won’t like it Boss”

Tony rubbed at his eyes once more. There was a monster of a migraine embedding itself in his head. Just how could this situation get any worse.

“Just spit it out FRI. No point dragging the torture out.”

FRIDAY hesitated for a moment before saying “We are in the universe designated 616.”

“But that’s-” Bruce started.

“-The same signature as our original universe,” FRIDAY finished.

Tony shook his head. “That’s not possible. You can’t time travel within your own universe. That’s not how it works. If we did that then  _ this _ would become our present and there would be-”

“-No future to go back to Boss. It has been completely erased.” FRIDAY said with a devastating finality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Tony and Bruce aren't in their old bodies, they still have the same ones they had before they went back in time (scars and all). They've just been conveniently de-aged by the quantum realm lol Instead the Tony and Bruce that were previously in 2012 have now exploded into a million little pieces never to be seen again. That's why Tony still has his arc reactor and FRIDAY. I hope this clears it up for some people.


	5. Another chance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previous: Tony and Bruce made it to his lab but discovered that the other Tony had bit the dust (literally). Things only get worse when they realised that they weren't in a nother world at all, they had travelled back in their own timelines.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short one today. It's a bit slow but I should be picking up the pace after this

No

This was-

They can’t-

_Fuck_

Tony stumbled back from the console almost drunkenly. His body felt like it had gone into a state of shock and had stopped processing information. All he knew now was that there was no future to return to. Time hadn’t stopped like he had tried to convince Bruce, it had just vanished. Dissipated into ash just like his counterpart had.

Though technically it wasn’t even a counterpart it was _him._

_We’ve destroyed our whole future. All those people, just...gone._

It was like the decimation. Only this was _worse_ because it was _him_ that had caused it. They hadn’t even had the chance to scream and cry and seek out their loved ones. Just one second there was a 2023 and the next there was not.

All those countless lives, even more than Thanos himself had destroyed, had just been wiped out with one fell swoop.

“What have I done?” He could barely speak above a shaky whisper.

His heart clenched painfully in his chest. The feeling heightened and tightened until the point of pain. Until it felt like he could barely gasp around it.

There must have been voices calling out to him but he couldn’t hear them. His surroundings became a blur of colour and white noise. Tony backed up until he hit a wall. The sudden jolt knocked the air out of him with a pained grunt. Then he slid down the wall into an undignified pile.

“What have I done?” he kept repeating until no sound escaped him and he was just mouthing the words.

“Tony,” the voice sounded so far away. His mind barely registered it.

Tony felt his body forcefully shaken but he didn’t connect it with anything. He was too deeply embroiled in his panic attack to notice the strong hands on his shoulders.

“ _Tony!_ ” 

He heard something that time. Along with the almost painful squeeze to his shoulders it was enough to cut through the haze. Tony blinked rapidly, finally acknowledging the face of his friend. His hands found their way onto Bruce’s forearms and he held on firmly.

“Tony,” Bruce softened his voice once he knew that Tony was listening. “It’s okay,”

“Okay?” The word came out half strangled. “How is any of this okay?”

His grip tightened on Bruce’s arms. Bruce, to his credit, barely flinched under the increased pressure. 

“We killed everyone. _I_ killed everyone.” Tony’s breathing began to hitch up again.

Bruce determinedly shook Tony once more. “Tony no one is dead. Don’t you see?”

Tony stared at Bruce in a daze, uncomprehending. “But the future…”

Bruce sighed deeply “Look, the future may be gone but all of the people that were there are still here _right_ now.”

Wait, yeah, that...that made sense. It was currently 2012. If they had been alive in 2023 then they would have been alive now too. (Well unless they were babies but that’s not really what he was worrying about).

“They’re all alive,” he muttered to himself.

“Not only that. Anyone that died between now and 2023 is still alive.” Bruce’s eyes were pleading. There was a hint of an astonished smile on his lips. “Everyone that Thanos killed. Everyone that was caught up in the snap. Hell, all the people who died because of our own stupid mistakes they’re all still here.”

Oh.

 _Oh fuck_ he was right.

This meant no Ultron, no Sokovia, no Civil fucking war. All the people that he had inadvertently hurt because he was too slow or he made the wrong decision. All those deaths he had felt sickeningly responsible for-even if they hadn’t been entirely his fault-they were alive and unharmed. Living their lives like they had always done.

And they knew what was to come. They knew what awful mistakes they would make along the way. Tony could stop them before they even happened.

Tony let out a breathless laugh. “Shit, Bruce you’re right.” Tony's hands were shaking on Bruce’s arms. But it was no longer from panic. It was more like a frenzied exhilaration. “We can save everyone.”

The rush from moving from despaired to relieved to euphoric was enough to make him dizzy. 

Bruce laughed breathlessly too. Then he dragged Tony closer and crushed him to his chest. Tony did not hesitate to wrap his arms around Bruce. None of them cared that they were both filthy and lying on the floor. They just held on.

* * *

They both separated after a decent amount of time. Not that any of them were embarrassed by their display of emotion to each other. They had been friends for too long for that. Both of them understood the need to cling onto something in these crazy circumstances.

Tony was the first to stand up. He straightened his mud covered shirt and wiped the end of his nose. “Right I think after that mush-fest we could both do with a drink.”

Bruce climbed to his feet, rather alarmed by the statement. Tony had been sober for quite a few years now. He didn’t want this situation to knock his friend back. 

“The bar on your floor of residence is fully stocked, Sir,” JARVIS replied dutifully.

Bruce was about to voice his objection but shut his mouth when he saw the look on Tony’s face. His nose had scrunched up and his lips were pursed.

“Not really my scene anymore buddy. Is there anything softer?” Tony asked.

“The younger Sir did not see it fit to stock anything softer than whiskey I’m afraid Sir.” JARVIS replied.

“Typical,” Tony said with a shake of his head. “Nevermind I’m sure I’ll think of something.”

Tony led the way towards his personal floor with Bruce in tow. Once they made it to the penthouse Tony swiped a bottle of scotch from the bar and immediately upended it into the sink. The liquid flowed out of the bottle and swirled its way down the plughole like some kind of amber waterfall. 

Bruce did not want to guess at how much that bottle had cost.

Tony then methodically rinsed out the bottle until any flavour of scotch had been eradicated from the bottle. He then filled it to the brim with fresh, cold water and took a big gulp.

“I think the act of just drinking something straight from a bottle still helps. You know?” Tony explained. “Even if it is just water.”

“No, no, I get it,” Bruce said, readily accepting the bottle when Tony offered it up.

Tony leaned back against the bar and crossed one foot over the other. “Only we could get ourselves into a mess like this.”

Bruce took a large gulp of water and handed it back to Tony. “I think we’re the only ones bold enough and irresponsible enough.”

Tony grabbed for the bottle and laughed. “Ain’t that the truth.” Tony took a sip and swallowed loudly. 

“You know, this is probably one of the best outcomes we could have actually had.” Bruce said “I mean we could have ended up dead or destroying life as we know it. But we didn’t.”

“I admit I did lose it a little bit when I first heard it but now I realise that you’re right. This is our chance.”

“See our original plan was to go back and get the stones before Thanos does and bring everyone back.” Tony said, moving his hands for emphasis. “But now we don’t need to bring anyone back. We have a six year head start on the bastard and we have the benefit of actually _knowing_ where the stones are.”

“You thinking that we should gather all the stones before Thanos has the chance too?” Bruce asked.

Tony stood up straighter “You’re damn right. I’m not letting him get a single purple sausage finger on any of those stones.”

“And then we, what? Destroy them, like Thanos did before.?”

“Yes,” Tony said with rigid finality. “But not before decimating him and his entire fucking army.”

Bruce nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly. “It’s a lot of work. We’ll probably need more help.”

Tony waved the idea away “I’ve got help. I’ve got you, FRIDAY and JARV.”

“You know what I mean, Tony,” They would undoubtedly have to draw more people into their plan. They would have to put different grudges to rest so that they could work together. Though technically none of them had any grudges because all of it was yet to happen. None of them had even met.

A wave of sadness crashed over Bruce when he realised that this Thor had never met him either. He didn’t know how he was going to cope when Thor looked him in the eyes without a hint of recognition. No warmth or affection, just one stranger staring at another. Something inside him would break.

They would be acquaintances. Though perhaps they could work up to being good friends. But he doubted they would ever be as close as they were in the lost future. This was something Bruce would have to grieve in his own time.

At least this Thor hadn’t lost everything. He still had his home and his people, his parents and even Loki. This Thor had known none of that loss and Bruce would make sure it stayed that way.

Tony frowned at Bruce, clearly not liking the idea of letting more people in on the secret. “The more people that know, the more dangerous it is,” Tony sighed “But I’ll think about it. If I ruin this chance because I refused to hold hands and share my toys I will never forgive myself.”

Tony drained the last of the water and thumped the bottle back on the counter. He wiped at his mouth but immediately regretted it when he smeared mud onto his lips. “Ugh” he spat “That can all wait. First things first we need showers and then I’m going to sleep for 14 hours.”

Bruce agreed emphatically when he looked down and remembered that he was still filthy and wearing only a large shirt. _Does this count as naked and afraid?_

Tony suddenly made a dash for the door. “I shotgun the first shower,” he called over his shoulder.

“Hey, I’m the one with his balls literally hanging out. I should get the first one.” Bruce bolted after him.

But Tony’s head start was too great and he got there first. The disheartening sound of the lock clicking into made Bruce groan in frustration. Tony’s responding laugh didn’t help matters either. 

When Bruce asked if there were any other bathrooms JARVIS mournfully responded that this was the only functioning one for five floors. None of the others had been plumbed in yet so he would have to wait diligently for his turn.

Though it didn’t help his mood when the asshole started to sing loudly as if he had all the time in the world. Bruce then banged on the door and shouted “Either you hurry up or I am going to lie in your bed.”

The threat of mud on his sheets was enough for him to quicken the pace. When he opened the door he had one towel wrapped around his waist and another one scrubbing at his hair. Steam curled around his head and wafted through the open door.

“Please refrain from putting your dirty asshole on my pillow. Some of us like clean sheets.” Tony said. 

Bruce didn’t pay attention to what Tony was saying and surged toward the shower. Tony just managed to jump out of the way before Bruce could barrel into him.

The hot water on his skin was nothing short of bliss. His sigh echoed off the tiles around him. The dirt that was clinging to his skin began to flake away beneath the spray. It mingled with the clear water until it was a murky brown. Bruce took his time and used up quite a lot of soap. Thankfully his hair wasn’t as long as it used to be so it wasn’t an unmanageable tangle.

He stayed under the water until it had been running clear for a significant amount of time. Only then did he step out of the shower and wrap a soft towel around him.

“And you were nagging at me about taking too long,” Tony said when he came into the room. “Damn double standards.”

“I have no regrets,” Bruce said with a smile.

Tony handed him some pajamas for him to borrow. It consisted of a pair of sweatpants and a Motley Crue shirt. The shirt was a little snug because Bruce was bigger than Tony was. But it was still miles ahead of the hulk sized shirt in terms of comfort.

Considering that this room was the only fully furnished one it meant that they would have to share a bed. None of them minded too much because it was a California king and they were both bone tired. 

Also, it's not as if they hadn’t slept next to each other before. Many missions that had taken more than a day found them bunking next to each other, in close quarters. They were used to it by now. 

So neither of them mentioned it when they both climbed into the bed and relaxed into the mattress. Bruce sighed contentedly against the pillows. He could already feel the pull of sleep.

“How do you think this even happened?” Tony said with a yawn. The sound of it drew Bruce back into the room. “I mean we did all of the calculations. This shouldn’t have been possible.”

Bruce stared at the ceiling and pondered it for a second. Then he turned towards Tony, resting his head on his hand. “I think our scientific biases may have worked against us. None of us considered this a possibility because the theories always pointed in the other direction. So we didn’t research it as closely as we should have. We just skipped over it and concentrated on the other theories.”

“How very unprofessional and unscientific of us not to outline all of the possibilities,” Tony laughed “Maybe they should take away all your PhD’s for this.”

Bruce responded by kicking Tony in the shin. Tony made a pained noise and laughed it off. 

“I think you’re right though. I was blind to what the data was telling me. This explains why the machine kept defaulting back to our universe's signature.” Tony said.

“Well that’s one mystery solved at least.”

They both lapsed into silence and they rolled onto their backs. The lull of sleep was once again tugging at Bruce’s limbs. He probably wouldn’t be able to move now if he tried. It had been a _looong_ day.

 _I wonder what happened to the other Bruce._ Was his last thought before he finally drifted off.

* * *

_Meanwhile in Kolkata…_

“...Say that one more time Agent Benson. _Real_ slowly this time so that I know _exactly_ what you are insinuating.” The voice of Director Fury on the other end of the line could send chills through the most war-hardened soldier, nevermind him!

Agent Benson was so dead. He was beyond dead. After this, he would never see the light of day again. They would find his body at the bottom of the ocean beaten until his own mother wouldn’t recognise him.

He had one job. One!

Track Dr Banner’s movements and relay them back to SHIELD.

“Uh...We appear to have lost Dr Banner, sir.” Agent Benson somehow managed not to stutter but it was a close one.

“How _the fuck_ do you lose one of the most dangerous people in the world Agent? He is supposed to have 24 hour surveillance. There should have been eyes on him at all times.” Agent Benson shrank back against the assault to his ear drums. He had to move the phone away from his ear.

He honestly had no idea how Dr Banner had slipped through their fingers. There had been no indication that he even knew they were there. Banner had been playing doctor in the nearby village and made his way back to the apartment he was staying in.

Nothing about his demeanor had changed. He was the same as he ever was. So when he stepped into his house at midday to retrieve something. Benson never expected that he would never step out again.

One second he was there and then _poof_ He was gone. They had the place surrounded at all times. They would know if Banner had left through any means.

But he was just _gone._ There was no heat signature, no sound, no shifted floorboards or hidden tunnel. All that was left was a dusty house and a panicked SHIELD team.

“I..I don’t know sir. We had the place surrounded; he shouldn’t have been able to slip passed us.” He said.

“But. He. Did.” Director Fury’s voice was ice. “You had better find him Agent or it’s on your head.”

The line went dead with a devastating finality and he could almost hear the ominous beep of a flatline.

He was so dead.


	6. Brucie Bear First of his Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously: Tony had a brief mental breakdown when he thought that he had accidentally murdered trillions by destroying the future. Only for Bruce to remind him that none of them are actually dead and in fact there are currently a lot more people alive in 2012 than there was in 2023. They both agree to do everything they can to save the future.
> 
> Meanwhile in India, SHIELD have just realised that they have lost the Hulk and they are screwed unless they find him.

Tony woke up with a new sense of purpose. A fierce determination that he thought he would never get back. After Thanos happened Tony nearly fell off the deep end. The sheer sense of guilt and loss and failure were almost too much. How could anyone come back from losing a fight like that? No one had ever lost to the extent that they had.

It meant that for those five years afterwards, Tony had no drive to accomplish much of anything. It was only his friends that kept him together. Towards the end Tony had begun to move forward slightly. He began to build and invent again. An act that had moved Pepper to tears. But Tony had still felt lost and couldn’t see much point in them.

Then the Avengers had come to him speaking of Time Travel. Of righting the world again. And that spark of hope began to burn in his chest. He was desperate to coax that spark into a flame but there was always a doubt in the back of his mind. An overwhelming sense of inevitable defeat. 

It was a dark shadow that tainted his resolve and left a bad taste in his mouth.

Now though. Now that spark of hope had fanned out into a roaring flame and it had sent all of those dark shadows running for the hills.

First things first though they needed to plan. For that they would also need a fully functioning lab. But Tony was not going anywhere near it until the whole place had been deep cleaned. Perhaps with an acid so corrosive it removed a few layers of its surroundings. To ensure that there was not one iota of dust left.

Then again that probably wasn’t a great idea. He would prefer that his equipment wasn’t destroyed in the process. Though it may be old and technically defunct in his mind he would still need them as a base layer for his improvements. It would make things go faster if he didn’t have to start from scratch.

That meant, for at least one day, Tony and Bruce could do nothing but sit and wait. But that didn’t mean that they had to be unproductive. Instead they simply switched their mind into brainstorming ideas.

They were in the penthouse and Tony was looking out into the city below. He couldn’t help but be drawn to the bustling life outside the window. It didn’t seem real. Almost a caricature of itself. After 5 years he had forgotten just how busy New York was. If he had thought that there were tons of people last night it was nothing compared to now.

“Pizza’s here,” Bruce said from behind him.

Tony turned away from the window and made his way over to the couch. He swiped a slice of pizza before collapsing heavily onto it.

_ This still counts as breakfast right?  _ Well it had pieces of bacon on, so it must count. Tony had woken up ravenous and nothing less than a large pie would do. Thankfully, one of his favourite pizza places served at all times of the day.

He groaned as he ate the first bite. It had been some years since he had been able to enjoy this particular pizza. That family had been caught up in the snap of course.

Bruce sat down too but he had to pull on the groin of his pants to get comfortable. 

“I thought you said that these were your loosest jeans,” Bruce said with a grimace.

“I don’t really do loose okay. I’m more of a tailored fit kind of guy,” Tony said “And don’t worry, JAIDAY have ordered you a new wardrobe. It’ll be here tomorrow.”

“JAIDAY?”

“Hey it sort of works.”

“Referring to us both as a collective may complicate things in the long run, Sir.” JARVIS interjected.

“Ugh fine. It doesn’t feel great to say anyway.” Tony sat up and claimed another slice of pizza. “Back to business then. Where do we start?”

* * *

They started off with a timeline. An incredibly detailed timeline that they had the A.I’s to keep track of. Tony had one of his old tablets set up with a holographic display. He placed it on the floor so that it created a screen of blue in front of them. Thankfully he had at least made those by 2012. 

Bruce had to come over to his couch so that they could both read it. Not that they both weren’t proficient enough to read backwards, it was just easier this way.

The timeline may have been a little  _ extensive  _ because they both had excellent memories and also could not seem to prioritise what was important and what wasn’t. 

Besides the obvious of course.

“I think it was my birthday meal on the 16th that year,” Bruce said. “We got into a fight with some mafia when the place turned out to be a front, remember. I Hulked out and broke a few tables. Lost my shrimp pasta in the process” he said mournfully.

“Oh yeah I remember that. Someone tried to throw a lasagna at you and it hit me instead. By the time I got the suit on it was already in my underwear.” Tony mused “Damn. Why do fronts always have the best food though?”

Tony made a note and placed the memory into the relevant spot.

“Is that really a pivotal moment to note down, Sir?” JARVIS inquired 

“Of course it is,” Tony said without hesitation

“Are instances like ‘Barton got trapped in an air vent’ and ‘Fury tripped over Thor’s hammer’ also equally vital, sir” Tony wasn’t sure he liked JARVIS’s tone. Was he always this sassy?

Tony frowned and swiped his finger through the air. He scrolled through the crowded timeline and realised that JARVIS was probably right. Most of these weren’t essential but they were good memories.

“Fine, could you save this one and make a more sleek timeline with all the important stuff in?” Tony said.

“Already done, Boss.” said FRIDAY “I took the liberty of using some of my own and JARVIS’s recollections of events to categorise them based on importance. I have colour coded them based on threat and anticipated which ones would change based upon the alteration of previous events.”

The screen changed to show off FRIDAY’s new and improved timeline. The major events were highlighted in red but the ones that could potentially change were struck through with blue lines. For example the event titled Ultron was in bright red but the subsequent ones: Sokovia, Accords, Civil War, all had blue running through them to show that they were likely to change.

“Well, aren't you a teacher’s pet.” Tony mused.

“I don’t think it counts as being a teacher’s pet if you’re better than the teacher, Boss.”

Tony’s mouth dropped open.  _ The audacity.  _ “Alright smartass, why don’t you just run us through everything to do with the stones.”

“Gladly Boss,” she said, unperturbed.

Tony remembered back in 2023 when they were all brainstorming about the locations of the infinity stones. There was also the added drama of finding out  _ when _ those particular stones would come into play. 

For example, Thor only became aware of what he called the Aether during 2013. When freaking holes to other planets began to pop up all around the globe and it  _ infected _ his ex. Tony did not want to ever find out how a stone could infect you. But with their current path he had the feeling he would inevitably find out. Unfortunately, Thor had no idea about where it could be before then. So that particular stone would have to wait.

Other problematic stones included the power stone and the soul stone. Neb and Rocket had been kind enough to offer their knowledge on the subject. The power stone had apparently been found by that Star Lord idiot he had run into on Titan. The guy had stolen it from a planet called Morag in 2014. However, there wasn’t any way of knowing whether it would still be there in 2012 or if it had ended up there at some point after.

The soul stone was another kicker. Neb said that it was located on a planet called Vormir but that was it. She knew nothing else about the planet. Not even if it had breathable air. All she knew was that her sister had been killed while she was there. That meant that it was undoubtedly dangerous.

They also had the lovely problem of being millions and millions of miles away. As of right now they had no way of traveling that distance. The only spaceships that Tony had been in had been non-terrestrial. Sure he had been nosy and poked around a bit but that kind of technology would take  _ years _ to replicate. Never mind the fact that the current tech he had was not up to standard. 

So not only would he have to create a spaceship, he would also have to invent the stuff, to invent the stuff to build the damn thing in the first place. Thankfully, he wasn’t completely empty handed. With his nanobots on hand he would be able to speed up his inventions.

The good thing though was that 2012 was a pivotal year for the infinity stones. If they played their cards right, they could have three of those bastards right off the bat. SHIELD currently had the tesseract (But probably not for long). Then Loki would bring his big glow stick with the mind stone in it. And there was a wild Time stone floating around New york with a mean wizard attached to it.

Out of those three the Time stone would probably be the most difficult to obtain. Simply for the fact that those wizards were unpredictable bastards with a bad attitude. 

The people in his life would probably say that he had no right to complain. They would see it as Tony getting a taste of his own medicine.

Tony was scrolling through all the information about the stones. FRIDAY had made a very efficient and very informative infinity stone cheat sheet for them to read. 

He was just about to reread about the mind stone when the entire hologram blue screened. Though it probably didn’t count considering it was blue anyway.

Tony let out a confused “Hey!”

Only for the reason to become apparent when he heard the dulcet tones of his best friend. “Damn are you having a pizza party without me? Shame on you Tony”

Tony’s head shot up to see Rhodey swoop in and grab a slice of pizza.. Rhodey smirked down at him with the occasional glance towards Bruce. Though the look quickly turned to concern when he saw the emotion in Tony’s eyes.

He couldn’t stop staring. Rhodey was walking unaided with completely natural legs. No brace or machine just him. His best friend was healed. Even better, his best friend had never been hurt in the first place. Tony had always felt so disgustingly guilty about Rhodey’s broken back. He always tried to improve Rhodey’s legs to make up for it. But nothing could ever make up for that.

But here he was completely whole again. Tony’s throat felt tight and he could feel the tell tale prick of tears in his eyes. Though he tried not to make it obvious that he was overwhelmed. 

And failed completely.

“You okay Tones?” Rhodey asked.

Tony sniffed and stood up. “Yeah I’m fine, I’m perfect. Have I ever told you how beautiful your legs are?”

Tony leaned in for a hug and Rhodey opened his arms without hesitation.

“Are you high right now?” Rhodey said jokingly.

“High on life”

“You know that’s worse right?” Rhodey said, leaning back. They both smirked at each other and Rhodey shook his head. Thankfully, he had dealt with Tony long enough not to get too concerned.

After the initial shock of it, Tony began to calm down. It wouldn’t do for his best friend to get suspicious of him because he started crying over his perfectly sculpted legs. He could do that in his own time.

“Are you going to introduce me?” Rhodey raised an eyebrow and indicated with a flick of his head.

_ Oh shit Bruce.  _ He had gotten so caught up in the moment that he forgot that they technically didn’t know each other yet.

“Oh yeah” Tony tried to get himself back on track. “This here is Brucie Bear. Otherwise known as Dr Bruce Banner. Otherwise known as one of the only scientists I can have a decent conversation with.”

Bruce looked profoundly unimpressed by his introduction. “I think next time I can introduce myself.”

“But I always do it so much better. I give it that added pazaz.”

“It  _ is _ quite the title,” Rhodey said before he reached his hand out for Bruce to shake. “I’m Rhodey. Otherwise known as Colonel James Rhodes. Otherwise known as one of the few people that can handle that idiot over there.”

Bruce didn’t hesitate to take his hand and smiled. “Yeah I don’t think there are many of us that can do that.”

Rhodey looked appreciatively at Bruce. It was probably strange for him considering Tony hardly ever played nice with anyone. The fact that the two of them were  _ alone _ in his penthouse together and Rhodey had never met him before was probably a little sus.

“Are those Tony’s clothes?” Rhodey’s voice had a suggestive lilt.

Tony had a feeling that his friend’s thoughts had drifted into indecent territory

Bruce sputtered for a second, looking like he had been caught out doing something he wasn’t supposed to. Bruce grabbed a handle of the Black sabbath shirt and tugged at it nervously. “Oh, er, yeah. I mean, I’m just borrowing them.”

“Brucie had a little accident and had to borrow some of mine, no biggie,” Tony said while clasping Bruce’s shoulder.

Bruce shoved Tony’s hand away. “You make it sound like I wet myself.” Bruce turned towards Rhodey, desperate to explain. “My luggage went missing and the clothes I was wearing got covered in oil when we were working on something yesterday.”

Rhodey smiled like it was christmas. “So you’re telling me that Tony invited you over. You went into his lab _ together.  _ Then you stayed overnight even though there is only one room up and running. And now you’re wearing his clothes.”

Rhodey turned to Tony “You don’t have to be all secretive with me. I’m glad you’re getting back out there man. I’m happy for you.”

Yep, his friend’s mind was definitely in the gutter.

“Whoa, whoa. No. That’s not-” Bruce waved his hands

“-You’re getting the wrong end of the stick there my friend,” Tony laughed “Bruce only wishes he could get into my pants.”

“Technically, I’m currently in them,” Bruce said, while shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot. As if they had rode up somewhere.

“Touche.”

Rhodey looked between them. “So you’re not secretly dating.”

“Not currently. Unless there are any plans to sweep me off my feet. Bruce?” Tony turned to Bruce with hopeful eyes.

“Thanks but no thanks.”

“Damn,”

Rhodey put his hands up. “My bad. I just thought Tony had finally found a boyfriend that could fit in his short ass jeans.”

Tony went and stood next to Bruce. He wrapped his arm around him almost protectively. “We may not be banging, But we have short-king solidarity. Isn’t that right Bruce?”

With his other hand Tony raised his fist up, hoping that Bruce would bump it too and they could have a ‘moment’.

But that moment was quashed when Bruce denied him and said. “I’m taller than you,”

“Yeah by like what? An inch. That doesn’t count sweetheart.”

“I miss being 8ft tall” Bruce whispered under his breath. Thankfully, low enough so that Rhodey couldn’t hear. He didn’t want to explain  _ that _ little detail right now.

Rhodey didn’t actually stay long. He was only there to say farewell really, because he was off on a super secret government mission that would take him away for a while. 

Obviously Tony already knew all of this but he managed to fake his surprise at the information.

When it came time for Rhodey to leave, Tony decided to escort him out personally. They left Bruce in the penthouse. Which made Rhodey raise his eyebrow again. Since when did Tony trust people other than him and Pepper alone in his house? 

Tony tried to steer Rhodey’s thoughts in another direction but he had a feeling that his friend was jumping back onto the secret boyfriend train.

“I really like this Bruce guy, Tony. He’s funny and doesn’t take any of your shit. He can hold his own up around you and give it straight back” Rhodey said appreciatively. “It’s nice to see you branching out and making more friends.”

“Hey, I have friends,” Tony said, affronted.

“I mean real friends. Not just someone who schmoozed up to you at a gala.”

Yeah he forgot that 2012 Tony was quite the loner. The fact that post-snap Tony had more friends was kinda sad.

“Yeah he’s pretty cool. You should see him when he turns green and becomes 8ft tall.”

Rhodey laughed but Tony could tell by the way he shook his head that Rhodey didn’t believe him. 

“Anyway, I’m leaving at around 4am tomorrow but you should still be able to call me if you need me. But this is a covert mission so don’t get mad if I ghost you. Also, I think Pep is gonna come over in a few days to check how your whole clean energy schtick is going. So behave or who knows what she could walk in on.” Rhodey laughed.

“I’ve told you already, we’re just friends. There will be nothing for her to walk in on.” Tony said “Anyway, I hope you enjoy Hong Kong. You should definitely get me a postcard.”

Rhodey closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. His breath came out in a big sigh. “I’m not even going to ask how you found out that very secret and very  _ sensitive _ information, that only the U.S government is supposed to know.”

“You know me. A lot fingers and a lot of pies,”

“Please stop fingering pies, Tony.”

* * *

The next few days felt like a whirlwind. Bruce’s new wardrobe had arrived so he no longer had to mooch from Tony. That at least meant that he was no longer moaning about the quality of Tony’s clothes. He was back to wearing his smart button ups with the occasional sweater. As well as jeans that  _ actually _ fit him.

_ Damn, you give someone the jeans off your ass and they still complain. _

Tony had also had a rather extensive clear out of his liquor cabinets. He just didn’t like having the alcohol around. Just the sight of them left a bad taste in his mouth. So he made a big ceremony of dumping them all down the drain. Some of the bottles were actually quite expensive. He probably could have saved some and gifted them out. However, once he started he realised that it was too cathartic to stop. So down the drain they went with the rest of it.

He decided to leave the empty bottles on the counter and deal with them at another point. Some of the bottles were pretty and he didn’t want to just throw them out. Maybe he’ll put a couple of string lights in them and make some decorations.

The lab was also finally dust free so that they could actually step foot in it again. While it still gave him chills he knew he needed to be in there. There was too much for them to do for him to be scared of his own lab. Not that he would ever use the word  _ scared. _

Him and Bruce got to work as soon as they were able. The first thing on the agenda was creating some kind of containment unit for the stones. In their raw state those things emitted a fuck ton of power. And Bruce had recalled how both the tesseract and Loki’s scepter had emitted gamma radiation. 

They would hopefully be able to keep them in their original containers. The cube had worked well enough. Though the scepter may be a problem because it seemed to have a mind of its own. The mind stone didn’t project any hate and discord when it was in Vision's head. So that may have been a property of the scepter itself. Then again if it was Thanos that was probably a design feature in everything he owned.

Tony decided that his nanobots were the best bet at holding onto those things. They could mold around it and create an impermeable barrier. He had made several improvements to the bots since Thanos had managed to shatter them. They should be more resistant to physical blows now. 

Though in his bot’s defense Thanos had two fucking infinity stones so it’s actually amazing that they stood up so well.

The containers also needed to be able to block signals. It wouldn’t be helpful to announce to the whole galaxy that they were in possession of an infinity stone. They needed to be able to transport them without fear of being sniffed out by rabid aliens. 

Which was easier said than done. There was only so much that you could shield before his tech maxed out. He had a feeling that a thing older than the universe itself would probably find a way to leak out of whatever it was in.

That’s what Bruce and Tony were working on when they were interrupted by his A.I’s trying to speak over one another. They had had a few teething problems trying to share the same space. They hadn’t yet worked out who should speak and when. Though the longer they were together the more they would integrate until they worked seamlessly with one another.

“Boss-”

“Sir-”

“-I’m sorry I-”

“-A problem,”

Tony didn’t have the chance to work through what they were trying to warn him about when he heard the door to his lab slam open. His eyebrows shot up when he saw someone there.

His hands quickly followed as he eyed the weapon trained at his head.


	7. Tony Stark was not the imposter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously: Tony and Bruce started to create a detailed timeline so that they knew what was to come. Just as they were going over information about the infinity stones, Rhodey decided to make a surprise visit. Rhodey originally thought that Bruce and Tony were dating but is still happy for Tony when he finds out that they were just friends.  
> Tony and Bruce then moved on to creating containment units for when they eventually find all of the infinity stones. However part way through, someone broke into the lab and levelled a weapon at his head.

Pepper was concerned about Tony. Which wasn’t anything new. In fact it was monotonously old news. When wasn’t she worried about him? In fact, not being worried was a whole new worry in and of itself. It was like he was a ticking time bomb waiting to blow and do something idiotic. And always at the most inopportune times.

Though this time she was rather worried.

She had woken up a couple of days ago to the strangest and distressing set of text messages. Apparently JARVIS had sent her several calls and messages claiming that something serious had happened to Tony. So serious that the A.I hadn’t known what to do. She was a second away from shooting out of her room still in her pyjamas and her hair like a bird's nest. When she found more recent texts.

_ Sorry Ms Potts, I was mistaken. Sir is in fact whole and healthy and there is nothing to be concerned about- JARVIS _

_ Yeah, don’t worry the Boss is fine :D- F _

She had no idea who ‘F’ was or how they had gotten her number. The messages did not really do much to alleviate her worries though. Something must have happened to send JARVIS into a panic. Something that she would no doubt have to reprimand Tony for.

When she called in to check him though, he did sound like himself and he told her that the messages of danger were just a fault from where he had been tweaking JARVIS’s system. She wasn’t sure how much she believed that but she let it slide for now. 

But then James had called her a couple of days ago saying that Tony had been acting strangely. That he had been overly emotional and had nearly been in tears over James’ legs of all things. While that wasn’t the strangest thing she had ever heard it did indicate that Tony might be in a bit of a fragile state. A state he hadn’t seemed to be in a few days ago.

James was also waxing lyrical about Tony’s new friend. Which was a piece of information that she  _ definitely _ did not know. Since when had Tony kept something like that a secret? Tony was usually the one to tell her these things in excruciating detail. And the way James described them, it looked like they had been friends for quite some time.

She knew that Tony kept things from her but that was usually about Iron Man. Tony would have never kept  _ this _ from her. He would have been singing from the rooftops about his new ‘science bro’. 

Pepper didn’t like to admit it but she was hurt that Tony hadn’t told her. Did he think she wouldn’t approve? She would never have said anything against it. In fact she would have outwardly encouraged the two to hang out more; she always wanted him to make a new friend.

_ God, that sounds patronising. _ But it was true. He needed a friend who he didn’t employ and one that could understand when he talked shop.

It just seemed  _ off _ somehow, that she didn’t know about him.

Pepper had called again a day ago to see how things were but he seemed really dismissive on the phone. She tried to talk about the new reactor but he kept brushing it away as if it wasn’t really important.

“I’ve already done everything. All the plans are ready, it’s fine.”

Well the last time they spoke he had hit a snag and he was complaining about how he might not get it completed in time. But now he was saying that he was  _ done _ ? 

He also seemed to forget things they had discussed barely a week ago. And when she heard the voice of a stranger-who she could only guess was this mysterious Bruce- she couldn’t help but feel suspicious. Something had happened and Tony wasn’t telling her about it. Maybe this new friend was behind it all. He could be trying to work his way into Tony’s good graces, only to betray him later.

Pepper had done her research on the guy and he did seem to be a real scientist. But when she probed deeper she found an article about an exploded lab and how he hadn’t been heard from since. Most assumed he had died in the inferno yet here he was alive and well without a scratch on him. It wasn’t the most innocent looking thing she will admit. It only added more to her suspicion.

She needed to see him for herself. Just so that she could see that she was overreacting.

So she marched her way down to Stark Tower early in the morning. There were still building crews on some of the middle floors but the reception was already complete. That way she could make her way straight through unhindered. She didn’t even need to show any I.D, the staff knew to let her in.

When she got into the elevator she expected to hear JARVIS’s voice. Except there appeared to be more than just his.

“Young FRIDAY I don’t think it’s-”

“Good Morning Boss Lady!” A strange new voice greeted her eagerly, they had a soft irish twang. “It is very nice to see you.”

“Er, nice to see you too?” She replied with uncertainty. Though she knew it was foolish to say ‘see you too’ when you couldn’t actually see them.

_ Who the hell was that?  _ A new A.I? But Tony would never replace JARVIS. He would tell her if he was creating a new one. Wouldn’t he?

An uncomfortable feeling settled in her stomach like lead. Something was definitely wrong here. It felt like the twilight zone. Or the mirror dimension in Star Trek. She was going to find evil Tony who had a beard.  _ Wait, no Tony already has a beard. _ His evil one would be clean shaven.

“Young FRIDAY is just excited, Ms Potts.” JARVIS explained. “Though, I too, am happy to see you.”

“Thanks JARVIS,” she said distractedly. 

She had originally been going to ask JARVIS if she had noticed anything different about Tony. But now she knew that there was a foreign system in the mainframe she was hesitant. Had someone hacked in? 

Her heart beat began to pick up alongside her new feelings of alarm and dread. It made her feel jittery.

Pepper stepped out into the penthouse. She wasn’t completely shocked to find it empty but it was always best to check up here before she tried anywhere else. Though she did peer around just to check. 

The place looked like someone had been there recently. There were take out containers on the counter alongside empty glass bottles.

Wait, some of those were Tony’s best bottles. She lifted one up and found not even a single drop of scotch in it. Almost like they had been rinsed out. There appeared to be his whole liquor cabinet worth of empty bottles too. Surely he couldn’t have drunk them all. He’d be dead! Was that what the emergency calls were about? Blood poisoning or liver damage?

“JARVIS did Tony drink these?” there was a hint of panic in her voice.

“If Sir  _ had _ consumed them I feel that he may be dead. No, rest assured Ms Potts, Sir actually disposed of the alcohol rather than drank it.” JARVIS said.

He said it like that was supposed to make her feel better but if anything it only increased her sense of dread.

“ _ Disposed _ ?”

“Yes, Sir poured it all down the drain a couple of days ago.”

Tony would  _ never _ throw away his alcohol. He had an unhealthy attachment to the stuff. He used it as a crutch. No matter how much James and Pepper had tried to push him into healthier coping mechanisms he had outright refused to listen.

This, perhaps, was the biggest clue of all that something was  _ seriously _ wrong.

“JARVIS where’s Tony?”

JARVIS hesitated as if he wasn’t sure he should say before acquiescing “Sir is in his lab with Dr Banner, Ms Potts.”

That Dr Banner was still here after 3 days!? 

Pepper drew herself up and took a deep breath. She resolved herself before she made her way back to the elevator; determined to get to the bottom of this. Tony and  _ Dr Banner _ had a lot to answer to. 

When the elevator landed on the correct floor she hesitated. But she knew that she needed answers so scolded herself and stepped out of it confidently. 

Pepper decided to peek in through the glass door. She didn’t want to go barging in without scoping the scene out first. The first person she saw must have been that Banner guy. He was well dressed and in a cosy sweater. His hair was curly and he had reading glasses on the end of his nose. If anything he gave out quite friendly vibes. Not quite the evil infiltrator she had been imagining.

Thankfully, he hadn’t noticed her so she moved closer to the glass so she could peer further in. She caught sight of Tony and drew back slightly. There was something different about him. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. He looked older but  _ not _ at the same time. There were no greys or extra wrinkles but at the same time she couldn’t help but think that there was  _ something _ there. It was probably his eyes, or the way he held himself.

She just had this crazy feeling that this wasn’t the Tony she had seen a week ago. The idea made her fearful. 

How could this not be the same Tony? She was being ridiculous. Right?

Though when she saw Tony reach up to his arc reactor (which weirdly was poking through his shirt and looked a lot different) and then proceed to rip it off, she nearly screamed.

Pepper gasped and covered her mouth. Her heart beat pounded through her ears and adrenaline shot through her veins. She stumbled back several steps.  _ That’s not Tony. That’s not Tony. That’s not Tony!  _ Rattled off like a mantra in her head.

Fear gave way to panic. And panic gave way to  _ fury. _

_ How dare this imposter try to imitate Tony! _

Pepper reached into her bag and withdrew her taser. The one Tony had designed just for her. It packed one hell of a punch. Then she slammed the door open and levelled it at the imposter’s head.

“Who the hell are you and what have you done with Tony!?” She screamed.

Not-Tony threw his hands up in alarm along with Dr Banner who looked just as concerned. Then Tony peered down at the arc reactor as if he knew he’d made a mistake.

“Look Pep-”

Pepper took another threatening step forward and aimed carefully. It had the effect of shutting him up. “I don’t know what the hell is happening but you need to tell me where Tony is right now or I’ll-”

“Jesus Pep, you immediately jump to an evil clone. I mean how could any evil organisation perfect this majesty?” Tony indicated to himself.

While that definitely sounded like something Tony would say, Pepper was still not convinced. She did not lower her weapon. “I’ve seen some weird shit when it involves Tony okay. Evil clones seem as good an idea as any.”

If someone had told her 5 years ago that her boss would be flying around in a robot suit she would never believe them. A clone did not seem like that much of a stretch.

“Okay, okay how about I tell you things that only I would know.” He said, trying to placate her.

“Tell her she’s allergic to strawberries,” Dr Banner whispered to Tony.

Pepper swung the taser into Dr Banner’s direction. “And how would you know that? I’ve never even met you before.”

Dr Banner’s eyes widened and he looked between Pepper and Tony almost panicked.

“Your favourite food is thai. You secretly love cheesy boy bands. You have a birthmark at the top of your left leg that you say looks like a dolphin but I really think it just looks like a sad banana. I mean it doesn’t even have fins so it would be a pretty lame dolphin.” Tony rattled off several facts about her “Oh and you had a serial killer in your family like 4 generation back called  _ ‘The Chef’ _ which is a terrible and frankly misleading name because he never actually ate anybody.”

Everything he said was true which made Pepper hesitate. Would anyone else have been able to find out that information. Maybe some of it but definitely not the birthmark one. He was the only person that had ever called it a sad banana. She had been so insulted that it had stuck in her mind. Even under duress she couldn’t imagine Tony giving  _ that _ information away.

Pepper lowered the taser slowly. Still not entirely trusting.

Tony let out a breath of relief and brought his hands down. “I can explain…” but instead of continuing he turned to Dr Banner and appeared to be having a silent conversation with him.

It ended with Dr Banner shrugging and saying “Just tell her man. I don’t wanna get tased”

Tony turned back to Pepper and gave her a meaningful look. The kind he only gave her when he was being completely serious. The one that always set her on edge because it meant he had probably done something dangerous.

“Look, I’m still  _ me _ . It’s just that I’m- _ we _ ” he pointed between himself and Dr Banner “are actually from the future,”

Pepper just stared at him. Waiting for him to smirk or crack a joke but he gave away nothing. Her lips pursed with anger.

“So you berate me for thinking that you’re a clone but then you come out with that!”

“Okay that’s fair,” he countered “But it’s true I can prove it, look”

Tony pulled on the collar of his shirt until his chest was exposed. It revealed lines of raised scars across it. The most crucial one being the one in the shape of a circle right where his arc reactor used to sit. As if he had once had one and it had been removed.

But that would have killed him surely?

“I had the arc reactor removed in 2013 but the scar is still there,” He said.

Pepper reached up to trace it. When her touch yielded nothing but healed skin she drew her hand back. You definitely couldn’t fake those scars. There was also a sharp line that seemed to cut across his chest. When she went to trace that he gently pushed her hand away and covered it back up

“I mean I do have a few extra scars but you don’t really need to bother with those,” He said, though his voice was strangely tight.

This was all so crazy. She didn’t know what to believe right now.

“I believe I can help, Boss,” That irish voice came through the speakers once more.

“Go ahead FRI. I’m sure whatever you’ve got is better than what I have.”

A screen clicked on to Pepper’s right and she nearly jumped. Though when she saw what was playing on the screen she had to grip onto Tony’s arm for support. It showed her several clips. All of her and Tony and sometimes even with this Bruce guy. The screen showed her videos of things that had never happened. 

Of Tony working on new tech. Of her softly berating him or laughing at his jokes. She saw as the people in them began to look older. She saw the easy friendship this future Pepper seemed to have with Dr Banner.

It was like watching a doppelganger of herself. It was her but it _ wasn’t.  _

Tony was from the future. There was no other explanation that would fit in so nicely. Nothing else tied up all those concerns she had than those three little words ‘From the future’

“How, how are you from the future?” she asked “ _ Why _ are you from the future?”

What the hell had Tony done that made him travel back in time? Because let’s be real if anyone had created time travel it would be Tony. No one else would have sent him back; it would have been him.

Tony rubbed his face and looked almost haunted. “The future, Pep...It’s  _ bad _ . Like you could imagine the worst thing that could ever happen and you wouldn’t even come close.”

The way Tony’s voice made her blood run cold. There was no exaggeration, he was being absolutely and painfully sincere. As if he was begging Pepper to understand. To believe him.

What the hell could be  _ that _ bad? So bad that they had to invent time travel to erase it?

“How bad?” she breathed.

Tony gave her a pained smile that did not reach his eyes. He reached out to hold her arms as if she needed the support.

“Imagine half of the population of the planet dead in a single instant. None of them got any warning they were just-” Tony snapped his fingers “-gone.”

Pepper was suddenly grateful for the arms holding her because she thought she might collapse. She was horrified. What abominable event could wipe out 3.5 billion people in an instant?”

“Not just the people either. The animals, the plants-even the bugs-half of them gone.” Tony continued.

How could anyone go on after that? Even if you were one of the lucky few that survived, how could you live knowing that half of everything was dead? 

But Tony had. Tony had lived through that devastation and because of who he was he hadn’t rested until he found a way to fix it. Even if that meant breaking the laws of physics and travelling back in time. Because Tony refused to quit.

Yes, this was definitely her Tony. No one else would be that self-sacrificing. No one else would have achieved what he did.

Tears welled up in her eyes and they spilled over. “Tony,” her voice cracked.

Tony had his own tears building in his eyes but he seemed determined to keep himself together. But when he spoke his voice was strained. “We’re here because we can’t let that happen. I can’t watch all those people die again because I wasn’t good enough.”

“I’m gonna stop him Pep. Even if it kills me I’m gonna stop him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably not who you were expecting lol.
> 
> But they've now got one person in the know, even if they hadn't initially planned it. Pepper is trustworthy though. I have a feeling that she would take secrets to the grave. Especially one as dangerous as this one.


	8. Last picked in gym

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously- Pepper had gotten the wrong end of the stick when she first saw Tony. She drew the conclusion that he was in fact an evil clone that had replaced the Tony she knew. Tony had to tell her that they were from the future to avoid being tased.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been a while but life has not been in my favour recently. England is in another lockdown now and I no longer have a job so the stress has been slowly killing me off. Also the whole process of trying to find a literary agent for a book I wrote is panic inducing. I've been trying to get back into writing more so hopefully I can get back into the swing of things soon.
> 
> This chapter is purely filler but I still needed it. That's partly why it took so long to write this. I want to jump right to the good bit but I need to get past all the waffle first.

The ground was still sodden from the downpour New York must have had a couple of days ago. But it had dried enough so that the mud didn’t quite stick to his shoes or splash up onto his well pressed black suit. It was just awkward to walk through and he would find himself sliding if he didn’t concentrate on where he was walking.

Coulson made his way over to where a team had been set up. In the centre of an empty field in the middle of nowhere. Scanners on tripods had been set up around the perimeter, pulsating intermittently, as they tried to understand the anomaly. 

A few days ago their satellites had picked up a strange signal from this exact location. The likes of which they had never seen before. A concentration of intensely powerful energy, enough to rival the sun. Maybe several suns. The only signature in any way comparable to it came from the Tesseract. An object that SHIELD had been desperate to keep hidden and under raps. 

If there was a similar object around they needed to know and they needed to know fast.

But the signal had disappeared as quickly as it had shown up and they were here to figure out why. 

“Any luck?” Coulson asked the first tech he came up to. He was dressed in a white hazmat suit, which would have alarmed Coulson usually but the man had removed his hood and mask which suggested that the air was clear of contamination.

The guy frowned and looked down at his tablet. He scrolled through a few pages before shaking his head. 

“There is some residual energy but it’s nothing concrete. Whatever happened here dissipated incredibly fast and has not left any kind of trace.” he sighed.

“Is there no physical evidence?” he asked “Something this powerful could produce burn marks or something right?”

If this was anything like the Bifrost from their previous Norse visitors it would leave a mark.

The tech scratched his head, dislodging a few strands of hair from his low ponytail. “No burn marks to speak of. There were some footprints in the mud but they don’t seem to lead anywhere. As if whoever was there just up and vanished. And Stephens has found something towards the centre of the field. He thinks it might be a mound of cloth. But we’ve had to check for radiation before we can handle it.”

Coulson frowned. Footprints that vanish and a mound of cloth were not what he was expecting when he got this brief. That was nothing to go off of at all.

“Was there any radiation?”

The tech guy blinked before what Coulson was asking sunk in. “Oh no, it’s all clear. You can go and have a look if you like.” He gestured towards the middle of the field.

“Thank you,” he nodded and made his way over to the others. 

As he was walking, the phone in Coulson’s pocket began to vibrate. He fished it out and checked the caller I.D. When the word ‘Director’ popped up he tried to contain his wince. Director Fury was not going to be happy with their results. Especially not after the Shit Show of losing Dr. Banner. 

Coulson answered the phone quickly “Sir?”

“Are you at the location?” Fury asked, no preamble or pleasantries. There was quite a bit of stress in his voice. The Director probably needed a vacation.

“Yes, just arrived sir,”

“Is there anything you can give me?” Fury said.

Just as Fury stopped speaking one of the analysts lifted up one of the pieces of cloth with a pair of tongues. It took a few seconds for his brain to make sense of what he was seeing but when it did he found himself dumbstruck.

“Well?”

Coulson closed his mouth and then opened it again but no sound came out. Because in front of him were the biggest pair of Calvin Kleins he had ever seen. They were completely covered in mud but there was no mistaking the font around the waist band. 

No human could ever fit in those. Not even some of the most obese ones.

“Coulson?”

Coulson blinked out of his stupor “Uh, I may have to get back to you on that one.”

Fury sighed down the phone “Well you better get back to me quick because there’s been an identical energy surge a few miles away.”

“Right, yeah. Sure” he said, still firmly focusing on the giant underwear

* * *

So Pepper knew about them now. Which probably worked out better actually. With her on board they would be able to circumvent suspicions more easily. She was always so much better at that stuff than he was. If he was being honest with himself, if she hadn’t have found out they would have probably popped up on a few radars. Especially if he had started working on tech way beyond the current level.

It was just kind of annoying how fast they were found out. Like not even a week and somebody already knew. He thought he was better at keeping secrets than that.

Actually that is a straight up lie, he can never keep his big trap closed. At least with Pep anyway. If she hadn’t have found out when she did he would have probably let something slip immediately anyway.

So Pepper was helping to divert attention away from them for now. Which was not something 2012 Tony had ever really asked her to do before. He even promised to keep a low profile himself and he actually meant it this time. They couldn’t afford to be found out by people with more sinister expectations. For once Pepper seemed to believe him. 

The haunted look in his eyes was probably enough to convince her.

So for the next few weeks the two of them were rigorously organising their plan of attack. Obviously their main focus for now was on Loki's imminent arrival and the battle of New York. They had to get through that before even thinking about any of the other stones.

The big players would obviously be the mind stone and the tesseract. They had to work out a way to take them both without suspicion falling on them. They couldn’t just waltz in and take them because there would be too many questions. Even though Tony knew exactly where the Tesseract was _ right now _ , he couldn’t do anything.

It would change events too much and they would not have the advantage that they currently had. So they had to keep events  _ mostly _ the same. But there was definitely some wiggle room in there.

“I know you’re not gonna like this but I think we have to let the Chitauri come through,” Tony said from where he leaned against his work bench. With a box of lukewarm chinese take out in his hands.

“What?!” Bruce spat out some of his noodles. He grimaced and then wiped the corner of his mouth. “You do realise that they killed quite a few people and destroyed like half of New York right.”

Tony waved his chopsticks. “No, I know that. Obviously we’ll be more prepared this time and evacuate people. Maybe I’ll have a nuke on standby or something. But it is one thing that we cannot change.”

“Why?”

Tony straightened up “Because we wiped out a whole army that's why. All of the Chitauri gone” he snapped his fingers “in one fell swoop. One less army under Thanos’s control.”

Bruce’s eyes widened with realisation. “Oh god you’re right. If we don’t wipe them out who knows what will happen to the timeline.”

“It took him 6 years after Loki’s failed attack for him to make it here himself. With a whole extra army he might be able to do it in half that time. We can’t risk it.” Tony said.

Bruce’s hands dropped and he placed his takeout on the bench next to him. “But where are you gonna get a nuke? And are you gonna do it a second time?”

“Don’t worry about the nuke, FRI and JARV have the capacity to break into most of the security systems in this time period.” He did not deign to answer the second question because the thought caused his hands to shake.

Just the memory of that cold, desolate nothingness was enough to send him into a panic. But he would undoubtedly still do it. He would forge headlong into that hellscape. If it meant saving everyone, there was no price too big.

“Well,” Bruce sighed and scratched the side of his head “if we’re laying out all of our questionable plans...I think we need to consider Loki,”

He narrowed his eyes at Bruce. “Consider him how?”

Bruce looked away from Tony’s accusing gaze “Uh...consider bringing him onto our side.”

“What?!” That brought Tony up short. 

“Look I know-”

“What the fuck Bruce?” He began pacing with nervous energy.

“He’s-”

“Insane! The guy is insane. He tried to take over our planet for crying out loud. And you want to, what? Bring him into the fold? Make friendship bracelets?”

Bruce didn’t seem to be insulted by Tony’s rant. Instead he moved forward and grabbed Tony’s shoulder to stop him pacing. “Look would you just listen to me for two seconds and I’ll explain.”

Tony reached up and poked Bruce on the nose “You get one and a half seconds and that’s me being generous.” 

He remembered the guy that had thrown him out of a window and led one of Thanos’ armies. That didn’t seem like the kind of person you pick first in gym class. Nevermind for a top secret mission with the fate of the universe at stake.

“Look, I’ll admit the Loki you met in 2012  _ was _ crazy,” Bruce started

“You are definitely not helping your case. In fact you’re making it ten times worse.”

Bruce narrowed his eyes at Tony until he conceded. “Fine I’m shutting up,” He mimed closing his lips and throwing away the key.

“There’s a reason he was like that. Do you remember what I told you back in 2018 when I crash landed back here?”

Tony diligently remained mute until Bruce gave him an annoyed look. “Oh can I speak now? Cool. Let me just” he mimed opening his lips back up “Yeah, you said something about Thanos sending Loki. Which also isn’t helping your case my friend.”

Working with one of Thanos’ war dogs? No thank you.

Tony turned to lean back against the bench. He crossed his arms across his chest in annoyance.

“Let’s just say that he did not do it willingly.” 

Tony immediately dropped his arms “Wait what?”

“Loki was never one of Thanos’ ‘Children’. He didn’t follow him because he believed in his cause. From what I can tell, Thanos captured him and tortured him until he did what he asked. Either he found the Tesseract or he would be killed.”

Tony felt his stomach plummet and he had to grip the bench hard. He felt his pulse rising and he squeezed his eyes shut. 

It was just so familiar.

So horrifically and disgustingly familiar.

Either Loki found the Tesseract or he would be killed.

Either Tony built the bomb or they would kill  _ him _ .

It was afghanistan all over again. How did he have something like that in common with one of his enemies.

“How do you know that?” Tony eventually asked.

“He told me...Well he mostly told Thor and  _ he _ told me.”

“But he’s a liar. Like that’s his thing, right? How could you know he was telling the truth? He was probably trying to manipulate you.”

Bruce thought for a second and then shook his head. “I don’t think he did. Not about that at least. When we were on the statesmen, Loki was like a completely different guy. Still an asshole mind you but it no longer felt like he wanted to know what my guts would look like spilled on the ground. He also looked different. Do you remember when you first saw him? I mean the guy looked terrible.”

Tony did remember. His pallid skin and sweat soaked hair. The purple under his eyes had looked like bruises. With no other reference for him, Tony had just assumed that that was what Loki looked like. But now he could definitely see how they could point to signs of torture.

“Some of the things he told Thor,” Bruce shuddered “I don’t know how the guy is still alive, even if he’s a god.”

Tony put his face into his hands. How could this happen? It felt like a rug had been pulled from under him.

“And Thanos had the mind stone at the time so god knows what he could have done to Loki’s head.” Bruce said.

“But he wasn’t controlled though. His eyes were clear.”

“Yeah but you’ve seen what influence it can have without directly compelling you. I mean look at Wanda. She managed to get into all of our heads and she only had a fraction of its power. Nevermind the real thing.”

It was the mind stone that powered Wanda’s abilities and it was her abilities that influenced Tony’s mind and that was what had started the whole Ultron disaster. All from a few seconds of contact. Tony winced thinking about prolonged exposure to that.

“Fuck” Tony squeezed the bridge of his nose

“We need Loki on our side because he’s powerful and he actually knows about Thanos.” Bruce said.

“It's easy enough to just say ‘get him on our side’. But the logistics of that are just insane. How are we going to convince a mentally unstable torture victim to just flip sides because we ask him to?” Tony asked

Bruce shrugged “I’m sure you’ll think of something. You can be quite charismatic when you want to be.”

“Asshole, I’m charismatic 100% of the time. It’s infused into my DNA. The powerhouse of my cells is charm.”

* * *

“Whoa...er hey buddy?” Tony was a little taken aback as he came into the penthouse but he recovered quickly. “I didn’t realise it was a Hulk day,”

“Hello Tony friend,” Hulk said. “Hulk day on calendar.” 

Hulk pointed towards a calendar covered in cute kittens that hung proudly on the wall. In the square dedicated for this day was a very crudely drawn green face. It looked more like a goblin than Hulk but the meaning was there.

It was his day. 

Hulk liked to be let out every once in a while. Neither he nor Banner were allowed out of the tower really. Banner told him that people were likely looking for the both of them. People that would likely be mean to Hulk. So even though he would prefer to run through central park he was being good and staying in the penthouse.

It had been rather weird readjusting to being separated again. Sometimes it would feel a little claustrophobic being at the back of Banner’s head. He remembered how angry that sensation would always make him. Back when Banner hated him and never let him out. It always made him want to smash and destroy everything in sight when he finally got let out. It was why he would always lock Banner away like Banner had done to him.

But now that they had come to an understanding he was a lot calmer. Banner knew that Hulk needed his own time every now and then. So they had scheduled dedicated Hulk days for him.

Tony turned to the calendar “Oh so it is. Well I kind of need Bruce by tonight because we’ve nearly finished the containment units and I need to run some radiation checks.”

_ Tell him that I’ve already pre-programmed the machine to run the tests. He just needs to press start.  _ Banner said to him.

“Banner said it done. Just press start,” Hulk said before turning his eyes back to the T.V

“Oh really? Perfect. I guess I’ll just leave you to...whatever you’re doing. Shout me if you need me.”

_ Pizza. Tell him to order some pizza, we’re starving. _

“We need Pizza,” Hulk said matter-of-factly.

Tony grinned and nodded. “No problem. A dozen pizzas coming up”

* * *

“Why are we suddenly funding schools?” Pepper asked him.

Tony grinned at her “Because I believe the children are the future, Pep. Teach them well and let them lead-”

She put a hand up to stop him. “Okay I get it. Now that song is going to get stuck in my head. So thanks for that. But I meant, is there a particular reason? Like, I don’t know, from the future maybe.”

Tony crossed his hands over his heart “It’s so the children’s laughter can remind us how we used to be.”

Pepper shook her head and a smile began to form at the corners of her mouth. “Stop it, I’m being serious. I can tell there’s something more to this just by looking at you,”

Tony turned away and began to fidget with the tools on his desk “Ugh, I can’t believe how easily you can read me. I used to be a man of mystery. No one could tell what was going through my head.”

“You have never been mysterious no matter how much you may believe so.” Pepper laughed.

Tony turned back to her “I am offended with your accusation,”

Pepper looked at him completely unimpressed. She didn’t say a word, just lifted her eyebrows and waited.

It didn’t take long for Tony to give in. The ability of those closest to him to make him do things with a simple look wasn’t fair at all.

“Okay fine, you caught me. In the future there was this kid. Such a great kid, so smart and funny and _ kind _ . I’d say he reminded me of me but I was never that nice to people. He was just the epitome of goodness really.”

Pepper looked dumbstruck “Wait? Is this your kid? Tony, do you have a child I don’t know about?”

“No, no. God I wish. He’s not mine...but it sometimes felt like he was.” Tony felt his chest constrict just thinking about Peter.

“He must have been something special to make you go all fatherly,” Pepper said.

Tony laughed “You can say that again.” 

The kid could lift 10 tons without breaking a sweat. That sounded pretty special to him.

Pepper smiled warmly at him. “So you’re funding his school to give him a better chance.”

“It’s not enough. It’ll never be enough but I want to do something for him. I lost him once and I’ll be damned if I do that again.” Tony’s voice became strained.

Realisation bloomed in Pepper’s eyes and she reached a hand out to comfort him. 

“I wanna go see him so badly but I know I can’t. I just wanna do right by him so I’m going to give him anything I can.”

“Why can’t you see him?” Pepper asked.

Tony looked at her like she was being ridiculous. “Uh, hello because I’d look like the biggest creep of the century. I would prefer not to have the term ‘Child predator’ linked to my name thank you.”

Pepper scoffed and shook her head. “I didn’t mean for you to go stalk and corner the poor kid, you idiot. There are perfectly legitimate ways that you could see him without it being weird.”

“Like what?” he asked skeptically but deep down he felt hope bubble up to the surface.

“Just leave it with me. I have some ideas. It’ll even be good for the company” she said cryptically.

* * *

Pepper was a genius. And he doesn’t call other people geniuses very often.

When she told him what she had cooked up he was beyond impressed. She had built upon his original plans to fund the local schools and created an entire program for the little tykes. Where kids from underprivileged backgrounds would get the opportunity to come to workshops designed to build their interest in science and technology. It would give them the extra push they needed to build their confidence and enthusiasm.

It was brilliant. Even more so for his image. It was another bound away from the merchant of death moniker in the eyes of the public. 

He was kind of embarrassed that he hadn’t done something like this before. But then again, kids hadn’t really been on his radar before he really got to know Peter. It was just something that never crossed his mind.

Now the workshop programme would be offered to most of the kids. It would have cool science experiments for them to do and watch. It’ll be something for people of all capabilities. But for the ones that were particularly bright, they would be part of a different programme that gave them more hands on experience. Where they could go more in depth and really hone their skills.

Pepper had told him to meet her on the 6th floor of the tower and he knew what that meant. Over the past couple of days she had been interviewing families, getting them interested in the accelerated program. The kids were between 10 and 17 and had been invited to join because of their exceptional grades at school. 

It wasn’t really an interview, it was more of a discussion with the kids and the families. Most were understandably ecstatic but there were a few concerned parties that remembered Tony’s playboy lifestyle. As if it could rub off on them just by being in the building. But mostly they still said yes.

Pepper had been holding the interviews on the 6th floor because it was considered more homely than an office. It was a wide open space filled with soft chairs and a state of the art coffee machine.

Pepper hadn’t invited him to any of the other interviews so he knew what was coming. It meant that Peter was here. He was here and alive and  _ tiny.  _ He was going to see him again after 5 long years. His pulse was steadily rising as that thought sank in.

Tony breathed heavily out of his mouth. _ I better not screw this up. No crying. No hugging. If the kid thinks I’m a creepy weirdo I think I’ll go die in a hole. _

Pepper told him to act nonchalant, as if he was just passing through and happened to stumble upon them. But he wasn’t sure if he could pull off casual right now.

The doors of the elevator opened and Tony’s muscles froze. It took him a few seconds to convince his legs to move and another few to slip-what he hoped was-a convincing smile onto his face.

He walked down the corridor towards the interview room with a fake bounce in his step. When he reached the door he could 

“...Uncle Ben showed me this really old show called Star Trek where they had these cool phone things that could do everything and they could teleport. Will we be doing stuff like that.”

_ Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t _

Hearing his little voice was almost too much but he managed to school his face. He pushed the door open and stepped through as if he owned the place. (Because he does)

“Well I think we might have to work up to things like that,” Pepper said with a smile in her voice.

They came into view and Tony nearly tripped over his own feet. Thankfully, Peter and his family were facing away from him. It was only Pepper who saw his fumble and she gave him a comforting smile.

Peter was there. He was stood up and bouncing on the balls of his feet with barely restrained chaotic energy. His aunt and uncle seemed to be trying to get him to sit down but it wasn’t working very well.

_ Wait, uncle!  _ Holy shit Peter’s uncle was still alive.  _ Note to self makes sure he stays that way! _

“Ah Pepper there you are. I’ve been looking for you everywhere” Tony said, causing everyone to turn and look at him.

“I told you where I would be hours ago,” Pepper said, pretending to be annoyed.

When Peter saw who he was his eyes became almost impossibly wide and his mouth dropped open. “You’re Tony Stark! Uncle Ben it’s Tony Stark!” His voice was hitting high notes he never knew he was capable.

The same exclamations were running through Tony’s head.  _ You’re Peter! You’re here and alive. _

A surge of warmth and happiness and relief flooded through him at the mere sight of Peter. For the first time in a long time it felt like he could breathe easier. Like the knife that had been buried in his chest since Peter died had finally been removed.

_ Don’t cry. Don’t cry. _

“Actually I’m his twin brother Stony Tark but I can see where you would make that mistake.”

“Wait what? Oh my god I’m so so sorry Mr. Tark I-” Peter started to ramble.

May put her hand on his arm comfortingly and smiled “I think he was joking sweetie,”

Peter’s cheek went bright red “Oh yeah, I knew that.”

“So what’s this then, A job interview?” He walked over to the coffee machine. A drink had already been served for him thanks to his intuitive A.I. He turned back to Peter “You’re here for the Head of research and development position right. You seem like the capable type.”

“Tony stark thinks I’m capable!” he whispered to his Uncle, Not particularly subtly.

Pepper smiled “Peter here is going to be a part of our new accelerated science program,”

“Wow, you must be a very smart kid then. Only the best of the best get onto that program,” Tony said, bringing the coffee to his lips. The action helped him to act more casual. It gave him something to do with his hands.

“Well his teachers seem to think that he could skip several grades,” His uncle said proudly.

“Yeah but bigger kids can be mean and I wanted to stay with my friend Ned,” Peter said quickly.

Tony smiled, he remembered Peter’s ‘Guy in the Chair’. “Too true kid. Stick with your friends.”

Peter began to nearly vibrate, looking seconds away from exploding. “You are so cool I can’t believe I actually got to meet you. I mean I guess we kind of already met but you probably don’t remember. This is still amazing anyway!”

Tony’s eyebrows drew together “Wait when did we meet?”

“Last year at the convention. When everything started to explode and stuff. You stopped one of them from hitting me. I was in this insanely cool ironman mask at the time. Obviously not as cool as yours nothing could ever be as cool as that,” Peter rambled.

Tony nearly spit out his coffee.  _ What!? _

“That was you?” He just about managed to keep the hysteria from his voice.

The kid had nearly died before he had even met him. Goddamit this kid was a danger magnet.

“Yeah! But I wasn’t hurt or anything. You saved the day!”

Tony put his mug down and stepped forward. “Well it’s good to meet you properly then.” Tony put his hand out for Peter to shake “You’re a little hero in the making aren’t you”

The biggest grin spread across Peter’s face and he grabbed Tony’s hand eagerly. He shook Tony’s hand very firmly and very erratically.

“It’s great to meet you too sir,” He said, then immediately flipped topics as he was wont to do. “I really like your sunglasses, they're awesome.”

“Oh these?” Tony took them off his head. He had made these when he had first arrived back in 2012. They weren’t quite EDITH powerful but they had a few tricks up their sleeve. They could help him find information and scan for threats.

Tony looked down at them for a second before making up his mind. “Here why don’t you have them.”

“Really?!” Peter looked up at him as if he said he was giving him a spaceship.

Tony placed them on Peter’s head. At first they were way too big but then the nanobots got to work and shrunk enough to fit his head.

Peter gasped and reached up to hold them “Whoa.”

“You’ll have to take care of them. They’re one of a kind kid.” He said.

They would be able to inform Tony if Peter was ever in any danger.

“I will, I will! I’ll take such good care of them. Thank you so much Mr. Stark,”

When they eventually left, Tony finally allowed the tears to fall. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter should be the start of Avengers 1
> 
> I just love the idea of SHIELD running around terrified that they're gonna find Hulk rampaging through the streets and then he's just at the top of Stark tower being chill and eating pizza.


	9. That cape would look better on my floor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously: SHIELD have found there crash site but are still none the wiser. Tony and Bruce discuss the need to include a certain god of mischief into their plans and Tony finally gets to see Peter alive after all these years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said that I'd try to get back into writing more but it's been hard. I've been putting most of my energy into writing a novel (Did someone say lesbians with swords?) so I haven't had a lot of time for this fanfic.
> 
> Ya boi also has Covid and every breath is a struggle right now. Hopefully it'll clear up in a few days but right now it's annoying.  
> Remember to stay safe and mask up, kids.

Several alarms blared, obnoxiously loud, through the whole facility. They each had their own shrill scream but at different beats and cadences. They all blended together to make the most unholy cacophony. The screams of hell would probably be a softer sound than this. It set Fury’s teeth on edge and he was very close to contemplating murder. 

He had not had a very good month. What with losing Dr. Banner and strange energy surges that led to nothing. Then there was that upheaval in Kiev and Baltimore that were somehow connected. And his agents all seemed to be useless as well. 

Just as they were finally getting somewhere with the Tesseract, this happened. The universe seemed in no way inclined to rectify itself and give him good results for once. This piercing annoyance was just the cherry on the cake. 

“Will someone please tell me what the fuck that noise is?” He shouted at the wide eyed scurrying lab assistant’s.

The unfortunate one that caught his eye looked like a deer in headlights. “Er...I don’t really know, sir. All the alarms are going off at once. Radiation, Fire, Intruder, Electrical surge, Flooding, Bear attack-” They stopped listing at the sight of Fury’s glare. He may only have one eye but he could out glare Satan if he wanted to. “B.but none of the levels have been reached for any of them to go off sir,”

“Then why are they on!” He shouted, very much at the end of his tether.

“I. I don’t know sir but most of the facility has already evacuated...should we do the same?” 

Fury turned to look at Selvig and the Tesseract. The strange fluctuations were still happening. If they left now they may never find out it’s secrets. And SHIELD were depending on this.

“No,” He said resolutely “No one in this room leaves. Everyone outside can evacuate if they wish but we finish what we’re doing.”

The worker visibly deflated but conceded anyway “As you say sir,”

“And can someone turn those fucking alarms off?!”

* * *

“Did it work?” Bruce asked.

Tony looked almost offended. “Is that doubt I hear in your voice? Shame on you Bruce. My girl FRIDAY deserves better than that.”

Bruce crossed his arms “A simple yes or no would be fine,”

“Fine yes it worked. FRIDAY worked her way into the SHIELD facility and set off every single alarm that they have. The assholes won’t even be able to detect her,” He laughed.

“Are you sure this won’t change anything too much? What if they leave the Tesseract alone?” Bruce said.

Tony shook his head. “Nah, Fury is a stubborn bastard, he won’t leave. But hopefully the other 100 or so employees will evacuate and won’t get crushed by a collapsing building.”

“I hope so”

* * *

Tony’s suit was well adapted to being underwater. Even more so than the suit he would have been wearing originally. He remembered feeling the pressure from the water around him. Almost claustrophobic. But with this suit he barely felt anything at all. He moved as if he was on land with almost no drag.

He fitted the last pipe into place and began welding it back together. Bubbles rose up as his laser vaporized the water around it. The two pieces bonded together in no time and the arc reactor was completed.

Obviously he had tweaked the design a bit. With some of his future knowledge he had added plenty of improvements his old self hadn’t thought of. It was smaller for one. 

Tony shot out of the water at speed into the air above New York. The morning rush hour was happening far below him. Most likely witnessing his display of bravado.

“All good on my end,” Tony said “Light her up, Pep.”

“Okay in 3,2,1…” The tower, which had been previously powered down, lit up for all the world to see. The stark logo gleamed with that arc reactor blue. “We are 100% clean energy,”

“Woohoo,” he said, not as enthusiastic as the first time he had done this. But it was still something to celebrate.

Tony landed on the balcony at the top of the tower. The machinery that would have normally removed his suit remained under the floor at his feet. Instead, the nanobots began to dissolve from his body and flood back into his arc reactor casing. If you asked him, it made for a cooler entrance than the other suit. Less fumbling about.

“Now if I am not mistaken, we are about to receive a visitor,” Tony said as he walked in. 

Bruce and Pepper were already inside. Pepper had been given a short rundown of events. Not everything, mind you. He did not tell her about the likelihood of him flying through a wormhole. He would have never heard the end of it.

“What do you want me to do?” Bruce asked.

“Well in all seriousness I want you to Hulk out and scare the rest of Coulson’s hair off. But I’d rather he didn’t start shooting up the place or say anything that would make Hulk sad.” Tony said solemnly “So I guess just sorta chill, grab a drink. Make it look like you’ve always been here,”

Right on cue JARVIS informed them that they had a visitor waiting downstairs.

“He seems to be attempting to override our systems sir,” JARVIS informed them.

Tony smirked, having future knowledge made him feel giddy sometimes. “Yeah? And how’s he doing with that?”

“Mr Coulson appears to be having more difficulty than he expected, Boss. He is getting rather frustrated with your elevator.” said FRIDAY

The last time this had happened, Coulson had hacked straight into his phone and invited himself in. Tony had never forgotten the brazen display and felt like Coulson could wait a little bit longer before he let him up. It wouldn’t hurt him to stew for a couple minutes.

Tony laughed and picked up a drink for himself. It was only an elderflower presse but he put it in one of his fancy crystal champagne flutes. He’d offered to get Pepper some real champagne but she had been happy to forgo it as a way of supporting him. Tony would have been fine, he’d never been a wine kind of guy anyway, but he appreciated the sentiment.

“Well this was originally supposed to be a celebration of the birth of our wonderful tower. Technically this is like a rebirth but that’s no reason not to feel good about it. So cheers,” he raised his glass.

“Cheers,” Bruce and Pepper chimed. They all clinked their glasses and took a sip. 

Tony then let FRIDAY send Coulson up. He’d waited long enough now.

It didn’t take long for the elevator to make it to their floor and Tony was already halfway there, ready to greet the frustrated agent.

“Coulson,” Tony said brightly “What a surprise seeing you here.”

Coulson stepped out of the elevator. To his credit he looked entirely unruffled as if everything was going according to plan. It was one hell of a poker face and Tony was almost sad that they never got to play a game. But knowing SHIELD he’d probably find a way to cheat. 

Though Tony also didn’t like poker so it probably would not be a fun experience after all.

“I tried to call,” Coulson said, straightening his suit. “For some reason my call couldn’t get through.”

Tony gave Coulson a fake thoughtful impression “Must be my new security system. It’s pretty advanced. Wouldn’t want secret organisations getting into my important files now would we.”

“No, we wouldn’t want that now would we,” Coulson gave him a tight smile “I’m just surprised at how strong your systems were. They didn’t seem this powerful a short while ago.”

Tony couldn’t help the humorous smile that spread on his face “Oh well you know me, always ahead of the curve.”

Then Tony clapped his hands together and pointed behind him “Anyway, do you remember the glamorous and fantastical Miss Potts?”

Pepper walked over and shook Coulson’s hand “Phil, always a pleasure.”

“Same here,” Coulson said smoothly

_ His first name is still, agent.  _ Tony thought to himself.

Tony then indicated with his other hand to a person off to the side. Who had, until that moment, been hidden from Coulson’s eye.

“What about my good friend Bruce?” Bruce came around the corner with a serene smile on his face, acting as if this was the most normal thing in the world.

As soon as Bruce came around the corner, Coulson jumped back. It was as if he did a full body flinch. His eyes widened almost comically and Tony could swear that he almost reached for his gun.

“Dr Banner?!” Coulson’s voice was several octaves higher than it normally was.

Bruce came to stand next to Tony. The ice in his glass clinked against the metal straw as he swirled it in his drink.

“SHIELD right? I was wondering when you guys might show up again.” Bruce took an incredibly long pull from his drink’s straw until it made an obscene rattling noise.

“W-what are doing here? We thought you were in Kolkata.” Coulson wiped his brow with the back of his hand. He was starting to get a lovely sheen of sweat coating his skin. 

Bruce took another slow sip of his drink and stared him down with a serious look “How did you know where I was? You weren’t following me were you?”

“I-uh I…” Coulson floundered.

Bruce broke out into a laugh “I’m kidding. I already know you guys have eyes everywhere. You probably knew I was here the second I came to Stark tower. Am I right?”

Tony could almost see the cogs turning in Coulson’s head. SHIELD had had no idea that Bruce had been bunking with him for the last three weeks. He was trying to figure out how Bruce could disappear from Kolkata and end up sipping mocktails in Stark Tower.

Coulson laughed nervously “Yeah, no. Uh I mean, I didn’t realise that you and Mr Stark even knew each other.”

“Oh, me and Brucie Bear go way back don’t we?” Tony patted Bruce’s shoulder.

Perhaps a little too heavy handedly because it caused Bruce’s shoulder to dip and he spilled some of his drink onto his sleeve. “Oops sorry buddy.”

Coulson took a nervous step back like he expected a bomb to go off or something. This time his hand did ghost over his gun and Tony nearly rolled his eyes at the over reaction. People severely underestimated his boy Bruce.

“Nah, no worries,” Bruce said goodnaturedly, shaking the liquid off his arm.

Pepper seemed to be the only one taking pity on the poor guy and put him out of his misery “Were you here for something specific Phil? Or would you like a drink of your own?”

In all honesty Coulson looked like he needed several stiff drinks but the man shook his head and brought out some files from behind his back. He seemed relieved to move the conversation forward. 

“Yes, yes, this is urgent. We need you to look this over ASAP” Coulson held out the file.

Before Tony could say his iconic line about being handed things Bruce beat him to the punch and swiped the file for himself. The holographic screen lit up as soon as he opened it showing him a montage of the O.G Avengers.

“Oh that’s me,” Bruce said as a video of the Hulk raging through a university building popped up on screen.

His nonchalance made Coulson look very uncomfortable. But Bruce’s grip tightened on the file when the image of Thor came up. Thankfully Coulson was too busy flipping between the two of them to notice his reaction.

“Is this about the Avengers?” Pepper said “Which I definitely do not know about”

Pepper’s smile held even more restrained mirth than last time because she knew even more about them now.

Coulson refused to answer Pepper’s question instead he said “There is a threat that we need your help with. You too Dr Banner. We would have asked you before this but you’ve but a little...difficult to locate these days.”

Bruce smiled up at him “I’ll think about it,” Then he casually walked away with the file in hand.

Coulson lifted his hand up nervously as if trying to get his attention back. His voice was starting to have a panicked lilt to it.“We would really appreciate it if you came and helped us Dr. We are in desperate need of your expertise.”

“I’ll think about it,” was all Bruce said over his shoulder as he went to get himself another drink.

Coulson seemed the most rattled Tony had ever seen him. All of his expertly laid plans were unravelling before his eyes. 

“Well,” Tony clapped Coulson on the shoulder and steered him back to the elevator “It seems that I have a lot of homework. So if you’re not staying for a drink then it was wonderful seeing your beautiful face but I think it's time for you to vamoose”

Coulson stepped into the elevator in a daze. Tony gave him a wave which he returned. Though he did look at his hand with confusion as if he didn’t know why he had waved back. Then the doors closed and took him back to the ground floor.

As soon as the doors closed, Tony let out the laughter he had been containing. “Oh my god that was amazing. Did you see his face?”

“It was quite something,” Bruce came back with another mocktail.

“You didn’t have to torture the poor guy,” pepper said but Tony couldn still see amusement glinting in her eyes.

“He’s an agent he can handle it,” Tony said “And anyway after I found out that the dude survived the helicarrier attack and didn’t tell us, I wanted to get back at him.”

Pepper shook her head but didn’t reprimand him. “Right so I know what my job is. Will you guys be okay on your end?”

Pepper wanted to help as soon as she heard that there was going to be an attack on New York. Nothing could dissuade her after that. So they had given her the task of evacuating New York when the time came. She would work with JARVIS and FRIDAY to end out bomb threats to the surrounding area. The A.I’s would make sure that they were believable. So by the time that the portal opened there should be no one within a 20 mile radius.

“All good on our end Pep. You need to believe in us more.”

“Well we all know how well your plans go. I wouldn’t be surprised if something weird happens,” she laughed.'' I guess I’ll see you guys in a few days.”

* * *

Tony straightened the cuffs of his white shirt. The suit he was wearing was a little understated for his tastes. Plain black with a black tie. It was boring and in desperate need of a little pizzazz but it would do for his needs. They needed to blend in rather than stand out for the time being.

“How's your German?” he asked the air, the mic in his glasses managed to pick up everything he said though.

Bruce was busy fussing with his own suit halfway across the room. He hadn’t worn a suit in nearly five years and the tie was bothering him. He responded with “Ich spreche kein Deutsch is the only phrase I learned. Too busy getting all my PhD’s you know.”

Tony smiled genially at a passing guest before replying with“Okay hotshot no need to flex on us mere mortals,”

A drink’s waiter approached him and offered him a flute of champagne from their tray. Tony refused with a polite shake of his head and returned to scoping out the gala.

“Why are we here early anyway? I thought we were trying not to change things too much,” Bruce said from his corner. He was also keeping a close eye on the party guests.

“Well I didn’t say that we couldn’t change  _ anything.  _ Maybe we could save a man’s eyeball. Also, I was kinda hoping we could talk to the god of the hour before any wandering ears start listening in.” Tony said.

“Finally coming round to him are you?”

“Yeah, we need him. Even if he is a bag of cats,” he sighed.

Bruce snorted “If you think he’s crazy you should have seen his mom. She made him look like the most well adjusted person ever.”

Tony’s eyebrows drew together “I thought Thor always spoke highly of his Mother, with her being queen of the universe or whatever.”

“No, no, not his adopted mom. His biological one. She’s the one that destroyed Asgard...She’s also Thor’s sister.”

“What?!” he said a bit too loudly. If he had been drinking he would have ended up spitting it out. People turned to look at him because of his outburst and he smiled sheepishly before walking away.

“Yeah, turns out the Asgardian royal family is more fucked up than they let people know,”

“You’re telling me,” Tony laughed “Oh my god that makes Thor his  _ uncle _ . That is hilarious.”

He could no longer see Bruce from his vantage point but he could still hear him just fine “Well Loki wasn’t too impressed when he first found out but Thor loved it.”

“That I can imagine,”

Tony came across a group of older men and stopped short. There was a balding guy in the centre that Tony thought looked familiar. It was possible that he was the target that Loki had been after the first time. But Tony had only seen a brief picture of him originally so he couldn’t be sure.

Nevertheless Tony approached him anyway. He was never one to shy away from talking to anyone.

“Gutentag my follically challenged friend, how are you finding this magical soiree?

Tony heard Bruce ask what he was doing in his ear but he dutifully ignored it. The man in question stepped backwards and looked to his companions, clearly uncomfortable with being approached by a stranger. He didn’t even say anything, which Tony found rude. And here he thought these awful gala’s were for socialising.

“Well I must say, you have exquisite eyes,” Tony said, with his signature smile.

The guy had the nerve to turn his nose up at him and usher him and his friends away from Tony.

“Too soon Tony,” Bruce said.

“Does it really count as too soon if it hasn’t happened yet?” Tony asked.

“In any case I think you got the wrong guy.”

Before he could ask how Bruce knew, the screaming had started. Party goers began stampeding out of the building and into the street. Tripping over one another in a bid to leave quicker. Not a lot of helpful bystanders considering this was supposed to be a charity event.

Tony cursed his inattentiveness and rushed into the main atrium. Bruce was already there looking on in concern and Tony sidled up next to him. Loki had flipped the man onto a table and was currently doing something very gross to his eyeball.

He knew that Bruce couldn’t really do anything while this size so he turned to him and said “We probably won’t need the big guy in here so it might be best to go check on everyone outside. Or you’ll probably get a laser to the face.”

Bruce nodded gravely and then turned to help the people leaving the building.

“And tell me when spangles arrives,” he called after him.

Then he turned back Loki and tapped his arc reactor twice. The nanobots swarmed around him until all of him but his head was encased in his top of the line ironman suit. 

A hell of a lot sleeker than anything his counterpart would have been wearing.

The guy was still screaming and Tony nearly flinched away but he managed to contain it. Loki’s smug smile was enough of a distraction.

“You know, stealing a guest's eyeball is considered in poor taste. At least buy him dinner first,” Tony shouted across the hall.

Loki’s smug smile dropped off his face as he finally clocked Tony. He stood up with a growl and yank the machine out of the man's eyes with a sickening squelching noise.

“You!” Loki’s glare was murderous “How did find me so quickly?”

“well, Mr Tall, Dark and Handsome I was so excited to see you that I just had to come early. How else could I get you all to myself?”

Loki’s eyes lit up and a smirk stretched across his face. The sceptre shot into his had with a gust of magic and with another wave his modern suit was replaced by his iconic green armour. Horns and all.

Tony had always thought of them as fuck handles.

“I hope you got to see what you wanted because you won’t be alive much longer to see it.” Loki mocked before levelling the staff at Tony’s head and firing.

Tony ducked just in time and skidded several feet to the left. His helmet closed around his head and his HUD lit up in front of him. Loki then swerved and shot another bolt of energy at the place Tony was standing. 

With a light jump he managed to dodge it and watch it sail harmlessly below him. It crashed into the opposite wall in a sea of blue sparks and plaster.Tony hovered above the ground and used his new vantage point to his advantage. The gun on his right arm popped up and shot off a laser beam of his own. It wasn’t as powerful as it could be because he didn’t actually plan on killing Loki. But it could still pack a punch.

“Come on sweetheart, don’t be like that. I wanted to get to know you better,” Tony said.

Loki easily dodged his lasers with the poise of a professional dancer. He tilted his head in a way that suggested he found Tony fascinating. Though it was more in the way that someone would find a bug fascinating rather than a person.

“So brazen. I wonder what it would take to slow that tongue.” he said, firing off another shot.

“Oh there are plenty of ways to deal with my tongue. I can be quite imaginative,” Tony would have winked if Loki could actually see his face.

Loki’s surprised laugh rang through the atrium and Tony felt triumphant.

He was having waaay too much fun flirting with Loki. Bruce would probably tell him off later but he couldn’t help if Loki was setting up the perfect come ons

It carried on for several beats. Shooting, dodging, firing, ducking. They had started their own dance of sorts. Each perfectly in sync. Neither seemed keen to actually kill the other.

Not that Tony was too concerned about that. Even if Loki was trying to kill him, his suit could probably handle the sceptre. It had taken on the brute power of the power stone for fuck sake. He could handle the sceptre.

“You interrupted me before I could start my grand speech. How awfully rude of you,” Loki smirked, he seemed to be enjoying this as much as Tony was.

“I can probably get the gist,” Tony quipped back “Does it involve me on my knees before you with your name on my lips.”

Tony saw Loki’s eyes darken and widen with surprise. Before he could say anything back they were interrupted by a self righteous voice.

“You know, the last time I was Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing.”

Loki turned at the sound and let a shot off. Captain America lifted his shield just in time to deflect it back. It hit Loki and sent him sprawling backwards. His head shot up in anger when he finally saw who was there.

“The soldier. A man out of time.”

Tony flew back down and let his helmet melt away. “Teacher’s here to break up the fight. I think it’s time to throw in the towel.”

Loki gave him a withering look before lifting his hands in surrender. His horns and shoulder pads melted away until he was just left with his leather overcoat.

“Mr Stark,” Rogers nodded in Tony’s direction

“Captain,” he replied “How about we haul reindeer games here over to whatever plane you brought with you?”

Rogers gave him a strange look before consenting “Yeah, yeah that sounds good.”

They each took an arm and hauled Loki over to the hovercraft. Bruce was already inside from what he could see, probably having a very awkward conversation with Nat.

“Fury didn’t tell me that he was calling you in.” Steve said. Tony could hear the bite to his voice. Like Tony had taken his favourite toy.

“Well the first thing you need to know about Fury is that you never have any idea what that guy’s got going on,”

“How did you get here so quickly? We arrived as soon as we caught sight of him but you still managed to beat us.” He asked, eyes narrowed.

“I have my ways,”

“Ugh, by the norns, if you’re going to talk about me like I’m not here then I humbly request you find me some ear plugs.” Loki complained.

Tony turned to Loki with a sultry smile “What’s wrong handsome? Don’t like my dulcet tones?”

Steve looked down right scandalised and his face had started to go red “Stark don’t engage with the enemy.”

“Engaged?” tony laughed and then directed his full attention to Loki “No, I’m not engaged. Unless you're proposing, hot stuff.”

Loki’s eyes roved over his face lasciviously and Tony couldn’t deny that it was hot. “You’re a rather daring mortal aren’t you?” his voice was almost a whisper and it was positively criminal.

Tony managed to settle himself enough to quip back “What can I say? It comes with the territory. If I turned tail at the first sign of danger we wouldn’t be having this riveting conversation now would we.”

“And what a tragedy that would be.”

Steve coughed uncomfortably and pushed Loki on. It broke their intense eye contact and Tony felt like he could breathe a little easier

Loki was being pretty compliant until he froze at the bottom of the steps. Tony nearly fell over his own feet. The guy was like an immovable statue.

“The Bifrost?” he whispered under his breath “Impossible.”

“Hey, no funny business” Steve said, pushing Loki to carry on.

Loki just shook his head and glared at Steve. It didn’t take them long after that to get him onto the hovercraft. They sat him in the same seat he’d been in originally and they were in the sky in seconds.

Tony gave Bruce a nod and went to go stand next to him. Bruce nodded back which he took to mean that everything had gone okay on his end. He could see everyone else giving Bruce wary looks and it made him simultaneously want to laugh and get angry at the same time. These people needed to believe in Bruce more

“I should have known you’d be here when my PA system would not stop playing ACDC,” Nat said from the pilot seat.

“Thought you could use some decent tunes.”

Nat looked surreptitiously over her shoulder and Tony could feel her analysing gaze rove all over his body. He would have felt completely exposed if he wasn’t used to that look. He also had no doubt that she would immediately spot the difference between his old self and his new one.It was whether or not she found it concerning that was important.

He would rather not have another false accusation of cloning. Especially considering Nat’s weapons would hurt a hell of a lot more than Pepper’s taser.

“New suit?” She asked, her voice careful and even.

“You know me. Always got to be bigger and better. Can never stick with one suit for long.”

Nat didn’t look happy with his answer. Her suspicion never wavered. “It’s a hell of a lot sleeker than your old one. I didn’t think that technology could move that fast. Even yours.”

Tony placed a hand over his heart “I’m gonna try not to be hurt by your insinuation.”

Nat turned back to the sky but the frown didn’t leave her face. 

Several minutes passed and Tony began to get nervous. There was no sign of Thor anywhere. Surely it hadn’t taken this long last time. But then again, perhaps the anticipation was making time feel different. 

When the thunder god still didn’t turn up, Tony’s internal panic went through the roof. He turned to Bruce and saw the same look reflected back at him. Bruce’s feet began to tap nervously against the metal floor.

“Waiting for somebody?”Steve asked jokingly, not realising how close he was to hitting the nail on the head.

Tony opened his mouth only for a bolt of lightning to shoot in front of the hovercraft. Nat managed to expertly avoid it but was thrown off when another bolt shot off on her other side.

_ Oh thank fuck for that.  _ Tony had been so close to praying it was almost embarrassing. They hadn’t messed up the timeline irrevocably yet. 

The lightning strikes kept coming but for some reason the man of the hour never showed up to steal his brother away. Or nephew he should say. He didn’t know if he would ever get over that.

“There appears to be something down there,” Nat leaned forward to look out the window “It might be the source of the lightning.”

Wait, was Thor waiting down there for them.  _ Huh that’s weird. _

“They’re signalling, waving something”

“I’ll go check it out” Tony said before anyone else could. His helmet was down and he was out of the hovercraft before anyone could stop him.

There were a few shouts of annoyance but they didn’t follow him. Bruce was probably convincing Cap that he had to stay and look after the prisoner.

Tony landed carefully on the grass and looked around him. There was no sign of the younger Thor until he heard a roar behind him.

“Unhand my brother you...er heathen. Or you will regret it.”

Tony spun at the sound and his mouth dropped open at the sight. There stood a large man with a cable knit sweater. His long hair was unadorned and held back from his face in a simple bun. Where his right eye should be there was, instead, a pirate eye patch that one would find with a childs costume. 

Stormbreaker crackled dangerously with electricity from where Thor was aiming it at Tony.

“Holy shit Thor, it’s you!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo, Thor's finally in it!  
> It's taken a while but we're finally there. i hope you enjoyed the surprise.
> 
> Also, if you haven't seen the tags, I'm making Hela Loki's mother. I know the timelines don't really add up but I just love the idea of it. And it's also hilarious. You will definitely see more of Thor being a diligent uncle XD


	10. An unfortunate series of events

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously: The story has officially kicked in with Loki's arrival. Tony managed to break into SHIELD security and evacuate most of the people in the building. Then Coulson got the fright of his life when Bruce showed up at the tower. Tony and Bruce go to Stuttgart ahead of schedule and Tony engages in a very sexually charged battle with Loki. And finally, instead of past Thor showing up to claim his brother Tony is face to face with the Thor from the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been a while but I've been putting most of my concentration onto writing my book. I come back to this story when I give myself a break, which isn't often lol. This chapter isn't great but it's something.
> 
> I do actually have a book that I've already written which I'm rather proud of. Its called "A Curse in the Night-Lauren Hulme" I'll post a link to it in case anyone would like to check it out. Xx
> 
> [ A Curse in the Night](https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08RRZZFFV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_hXK9FbHX4RKY8)

_ 3 weeks ago and 11 years in the future… _

Thor knew he had done something wrong the second he had pushed that Norn’s damned button. The machine began to whir and hum, increasing in pitch and intensity almost too quickly to fathom. Until it was a high pitched whine that seemed to bury itself in your eardrums. 

The vibrations started in the centre of the machine but quickly branched out and spread until the earth beneath them started to quake. Then air around the platform began to shift and twist violently. An electrical charge hung heavy in the atmosphere. It felt like the way his lightning tasted on his tongue. A rainbow of colours shimmered around Bruce and Stark. Reminiscent of the tunnel created by the Bifrost.

All of this happened within the span of a few seconds. One moment they were all there and the next there was only Thor. The light had swallowed Bruce and Stark before he could even move.

“BRUCE”

And that's when the swirling tunnel of light became an omnivorous vortex, sucking in everything in its path like the great vacuum of space. It grew and expanded, reaching towards the ceiling and beyond. 

Thor held onto the console with everything he had. But even that was bowing under the might of the vortex. The metal crumpled under his hands and the bolts began to pull up from the floor. Thor called for stormbreaker just in time for the console to completely disintegrate beneath him.

With a roar, he drove Stormbreaker into the ground. A blanket of electricity exploded out when it collided with the concrete but it held fast. His feet lost their purchase on the ground and the only thing keeping him safe was Stormbreaker. Thor’s grip on the handle was strong but even his Asgardian strength was failing him.

The might of the abomination behind him was like a fell beast of legend. With an unquenchable thirst for the life around it. 

Thor lifted his head to search for a way out and nearly lost his grasp at what he saw. It was like the world had cracked and disintegrated around him. A shattered mirror where reality had once sat. The fabric of existence was unravelling. The Norns beloved tapestry, torn asunder. Splintered pieces of reality were breaking off and falling into the vortex. 

The ground beneath Thor’s axe cracked and crumbled into ash. With nothing else tying him to this world, he was drawn into the arms of the beast.

oOo

Thor was spat out on the other side of the kaleidoscope from hell. He was moving at such a speed that, when he crashed into the dirt, his prosthetic eye popped out of his head. It bounced seven times before settling in a patch of leaves.

Thor spluttered as he hit the ground and spit out several blades of grass. He flopped onto his back just in time to see the nauseous swirl of colour seal itself up. Like a wound closing, the pieces of existence stitched themselves back together. It disappeared in one final burst of light.

“Well,  _ fuck _ ,”

Thor lay there for an indeterminate amount of time, trying to contemplate just how badly he’d screwed up. He’d ruined everything. The machine was almost certainly destroyed beyond repair and there’s no saying what had happened to the very foundations of their universe. Thor had seen as it unravelled around him. Had felt it as billions of destinies were severed.

What if there wasn’t even anything to go back to?

It would all be his fault. It was  _ always _ his fault. He had failed everyone again just by his own stupidity.

Usually Bruce was there to pull him from his spiralling thoughts. A beacon of hope in the pit of his despair.

It was the thought of Bruce that shocked Thor upright. Bruce and Stark had gone through that vortex just as he had. There was a chance they were here too.

Wherever  _ here _ was.

Thor gazed around at the copse of trees he had found himself in. A forest of sorts. But which realm? Or which galaxy? There was a chance that this world wasn’t part of the nine. But he didn’t want to contemplate that eventuality.

Though, of the nine, the ones with trees like these were: Asgard, Vanaheim, Alfheim and Midgard

The sky above him was a bright blue which ruled out Asgard and Alfheim. Thor took a deep breath through his nose. Amongst the green of the forest he could detect hints of smoke and gasoline. Considering Vanir used magic for fuel he was left with Midgard.

_ Right, Midgard. I know Midgard, I can do this. _

Thor climbed to his feet and was overwhelmed with relief when he saw Stormbreaker laying a few feet away. He reached down for it and missed by an inch, grasping onto empty air instead. It took Thor a few seconds to realise that he had one hell of a blind spot and his depth perception was all kinds of fucked.

“My eye!” Thor reached up and felt the hollow socket, where it used to sit.

Thor spun around in a desperate bid to search for the eye. He found it almost immediately. The problem was that it was in the mouth of a strange woodland creature.

It was covered in red fur and had a bushy, white tipped tail. It’s face was almost feline but it had the stance and shape of a canine. Thor wasn’t sure if he’d ever seen a creature like this before. A strange hybrid of a cat and a dog. Either way, it now held his eye hostage.

“Drop that!” Thor charged forwards.

The creature did not heed Thor’s warning and bolted into the forest instead. Thor tried to keep on its trail but it quickly out ran him and disappeared through the trees.

He was all alone and left with only one good eye.

oOo

Millions of miles away in the gleaming kingdom of Asgard a King and his son were walking together. They spoke of a growing power, a disturbance. If trouble was to be wrought then they would have to respond.

Though the young Thor had no chance to respond, as a great light tore through him from the inside out. His body exploded into a cloud of ash and magic and his trusty Mjolnir fell to the ground.

In the frenzy, it landed on Odin’s cape and sent the King sprawling backwards.

oOo

Apparently he had landed in the middle of central park. Thor recognised the landscape of New York as soon as he exited the forest. Though he didn’t know how that was possible. He had watched the world disintegrate, yet here it was, good as new. Even more confusing was the sheer amount of people.

Thor had not seen so many people congregated in one area since before the snap. They chatted and glided around him. The air was a buzz of excitement and possibilities. With none of the fear and desolation that plagued the remaining survivors. 

These people had not witnessed the end of the world, he was damn sure of that.

“Woah, nice prop dude. What movie is that from?” A voice appeared to Thor’s right.

A young man was staring at Stormbreaker with awe, admiring the craftsmanship. Thor realised that he probably shouldn’t be wielding an axe in the middle of the street but he didn’t have his brother's illusions to help him this time. His throat tightened at the thought of Loki and he had to cough around it.

“It’s er...It’s He-Man,” Thor said, saying the first thing that came to mind. It was one of the last things he’d watched before making this fateful trip.

The man’s eyebrows drew together. “Wait, wasn’t that a sword,”

“No, you are mistaken it was definitely an axe.” Thor moved along quickly to avoid any more questions. Leaving the confused man in the dust.

Thor walked for a few blocks trying to orient his thoughts. He needed to figure out what was going on and fast. The looks of suspicion were increasing the more he walked.

On a street corner, Thor stumbled upon an elderly lady reading a newspaper. She sat on the steps leading up to a house. 

A newspaper would hold valuable information. It could tell him what kind of world he had found himself in and if it differed to his own.

Thor decided it was worth a shot. 

He gingerly placed Stormbreaker against the wall, out of sight from the woman.

“Good day, My lady, I’m sorry to bother you but I was wondering if I could look at your newspaper.” Thor asked as politely as he could.

The woman slowly lowered the newspaper and her eyes widened when she saw Thor. She gave his body an overt sweep before smiling contentedly. “Of course you can,”

Thor grabbed for the offered newspaper and flipped back to the front page. 

_ “STARK TO REVOLUTIONISE CLEAN ENERGY”  _ The headline read and a picture of an unfinished Stark tower lay beneath it.

_ That’s weird. It hasn’t been called Stark Tower for years.  _ Ever since the invasion it had been called the Avengers Tower.

With a growing sense of foreboding, he looked at the date April 6th 2012.

_ Fuck _ . There was no way that date could be right. The time machine wasn’t even completed yet. This shouldn’t be possible but there was no denying that his surroundings were different. Just the sheer amount of people-alive and well-should have been enough to tell him that this was no longer a post snap world. He was in the past!

The machine had done its job then. Only it was never supposed to be a one way trip. They were supposed to be able to navigate themselves to whenever they wished and have the ability to come back again. But Thor had nothing like that. By the norns, he didn’t even have his eye anymore.

And there was no telling where Bruce and Stark had ended up. They had been sucked into the machine first. It was possible that they were even further back than he was. Or forwards. They could be anywhere in time or space and Thor had no way of knowing.

Thor physically deflated. It took all of his effort not to cave in on himself.

He had done this and he had no idea how to fix it.

The paper all but disintegrated in his fists. “I had been reading that you know,” The elderly woman said, though not in a cruel way.

Thor had entirely forgotten that she was there but he quickly moved to apologise. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to ruin your paper. I was just caught off guard.”

He tried to smooth it out as much as he could before he offered her the ruined newspaper. She took it from him without glancing at it. Instead she focused on him. On his large frame and long beard and on his distinct lack of an eye. Thor wasn’t sure what she was seeing but something in her gaze softened.

“You look a little lost, honey,”

“You can say that again,” Thor said, dejectedly. He had nowhere to go from here, not unless he wanted to ruin the past like he ruined the future.

“Do you have anyone you can go to?” she asked.

A shadow fell over Thor’s face. “Er no, I don’t have anyone. I mean there was someone but I don’t even know where he is,”

There was a strange light in her eyes. The woman hauled herself up with considerable effort and Thor reached out a hand to balance her. She batted it away good naturedly. “I think you could do with a nice cup of coffee. Come on, I think I may have some cookies to go with them.”

“Thank you, My lady but you don’t have to do that,” Though Thor did feel moved by her offer.

“All this ‘My Lady’ talk is only making me like you more. But you can call me, Muriel,” Muriel then turned and made her way up the stairs “And don’t forget that big stick of yours. Wouldn’t want anyone stealing it now would we?”

Thor glanced at Stormbreaker. Then against his better judgement, he gathered it up and followed Muriel into her house. Where she began to feed him up with every cookie that she had in the house.

“Now you say you have nowhere to go?” Muriel asked.

Thor paused around his 30th cookie “No, My La-Muriel. I don’t have anywhere.”

“Well you’ll just have to stay here then. We can’t have a gentleman like yourself, sleeping rough.” she said.

“But you hardly know me. I could be a danger to you, for all you know. A vagrant trying to steal from your good will.” Obviously Thor wasn’t going to do any of that but this woman did not know.

“Honey, I am an excellent judge of character and I can see someone who needs a helping hand. So you can stay here until you find your feet.”

Thor was not one to refuse such a gift.

oOo

Muriel was a charming host. If not a little terrifying at times. She was very strong willed and determined, in spite of her age. Nothing could convince her otherwise once she had an idea in her head. She gave him a room to stay in that she usually kept for when her grandchildren came around. It was modest, yet cozy and Thor settled in rather quickly.

One of the first things she did was offer him an eye patch. It was made out of some kind of hard plastic and had a skull printed on one side. According to her it had belonged to one of her great-grandchildren’s pirate costumes. Thor readily accepted the gift and placed it on his eye. There were probably better alternatives but he was content with this one.

And it had a skull on it. Skulls were cool!

He helped her around the house as much as possible, which she was very grateful for. Thor put his superior strength to good use and helped her to rearrange her furniture or to carry her groceries. 

It wasn’t exactly a glorious battle but Thor still put his skills to good use.

As a thank you, she offered to knit him a sweater. He didn’t know how long it actually took to knit garments. He didn’t want to overstay his welcome while she knitted for him. However she looked him dead in the eye with a stare that could scare a bilgesnipe and said. “Sweetie, I have the fastest hands in New York. You’ll have a sweater before you can say ‘bob’s your uncle’,”

Thor wasn’t sure why he would ever say that. He didn’t have an uncle, nevermind one called Bob but he allowed her to continue nevertheless.

When she began Thor had to stop his mouth from dropping open. Age had not slowed this woman down. In fact it only seemed to have increased her speed and efficiency. It was almost superhuman the way that she moved her hands. Thor felt like he was watching one of the norns weaving one of their great tapestries.

She completed it in a day.

Thor wore it with pride after that.

One time he heard her on the telephone talking to her grandson Todd. Todd seemed rather upset with the thought that his grandmother had brought a stranger into her home. But Muriel was quick to reassure him.

“Don’t worry sweetie, Thor is a delightful guest.” She turned to wave at Thor with a smile. Then she turned back around and lowered her voice “He’s pretty handsome too. I think he might be one of  _ your _ people.”

There was an audible sigh on the other end of the telephone. “Gramma what do you mean, my people?”

“You know, he’s got  _ long _ hair and he’s-Oh what did you call it? Bear-y. He’s very bear-y.”

“ _ Oh my god _ Gramma not everyone who has long hair is gay! And you need to stop trying to set me up with people. I appreciate it but you really don’t need to do that. I can find people on my own.” Todd said

“If I waited for you to find a boyfriend on your own I’ll be dead before you do. But nevermind that, why don’t you come over?”

Thor wasn’t sure what to make of Muriel’s intentions but he had a suspicion that she wished to betroth him to her grandson. While he had nothing against him, he didn’t know him. He hoped that he could refuse her proposal without surrendering his right to shelter.

But thankfully she didn’t bring it up again.

Thor spent three weeks with Muriel and it gave him a lot of time to think. He had debated whether or not he should seek out his former companions. Stark in particular considering that the man was in the same city as him. He desperately wanted to see if his Stark was there somewhere. But he knew that if a second Tony Stark had shown up anywhere in the world it would be global news. And as there had been nothing of the sort, he was left with the conclusion that it was only the Stark from the past that inhabited the Tower.

If he showed up there, he would undoubtedly change the past. That Stark had no allegiance to him. He would most likely think Thor insane. And he did not want to colour Stark’s idea of him before he met the Thor from the past. That would be a disservice to his past self.

And he had no idea where Bruce was during this time. He could be anywhere on this planet.

In a bid to preserve this time as much as possible Thor endeavoured to keep himself to himself. And it was going swimmingly until he heard the news on the radio.

_ “There appears to be an ongoing terrorist attack in Germany. The Stuttgart Gala is now in upheaval as a nameless man savagely attacked one of the attending doctors. It appears that Iron Man himself is there to help contain the danger.” _

Barely a thought had passed through Thor’s mind when he found Stormbreaker in his hand. He could feel the tug of the Bifrost rippling beneath his skin. It called to the desperate part of Thor’s mind that yearned to see his brother once more.

He would stay out of the way. His younger self could take over. But he just needed to take a look. Just to know that somewhere out there, his brother still resided. No matter how angry or distraught he was, Thor needed to see him all the same. 

It felt like a band had tied around his chest and squeezed. And no matter how much he swallowed he could not dislodge the tight feeling in his throat. A single tear rolled down his face and onto the hand gripping Stormbreaker. Seeing the tear strengthened his resolve and he tore his way out of the house.

He didn’t have a chance to say goodbye to Muriel and he hoped he could repay her favour in some way. But with little care for onlookers, he stumbled out onto the street and felt the familiar pull of the Bifrost around him. 

In what felt like barely a second, Thor was deposited in the midst of a forest. A forest he remembered arriving in a lifetime ago. If he bided his time and hid himself well, he would be able to catch a glimpse of his former self and his brother.

Though Thor had no idea how he would react at seeing himself in his former glory. That Thor felt so unreachable to him now. He feared that he would grieve himself as well as his brother. Just another heartache to add to the mix.

Eventually he heard the engines of a hovercraft. The whir of the motor blades vibrated through him. His body was an eclectic mix of excitement, fear, desperation and urgency. The longer the moment dragged out, the more Thor feared he would go insane with the sensations.

He was waiting with bated breath for any sign of his past self.

Only for the hovercraft to glide swiftly overhead with no hint of the other Thor anywhere. No hum of lightning or glimpse of a red cape. Even the sky remained blissfully clear

The sudden influx of dread turned his stomach to lead and Thor knew he had fucked up. Clearly he had done something disastrous and now he had altered the past catastrophically.

The sky darkened with Thor’s mood and a sharp arc of lightning sliced through the air. He could feel the charge building up in his skin. Thor wasn’t going to let himself screw the timeline up even more. He would just have to do his past self’s job.

Now how did he do this last time?

oOo

“...So I think I may be betrothed and I have had my eye stolen by a woodland creature.” Thor said.

Stark gazed up at him with a look of astonished wonder and bafflement. “That is insane!” Stark then surged forward and wrapped Thor in a hug “But I’m glad you're here man.”

Thor leaned into the hug. Even with the metal armour it felt good to hug someone.

“I don’t know why you're pleased to see I’m the reason we’re in this mess. I’ve messed up that badly that my past self didn’t even show up when he was supposed to.”

Stark backed out of the hug and gave Thor a look of concern. “Dude, how is any of this your fault? You pushed the button that _ I  _ asked you to. This was all a freak accident. Now stop pouting or I’ll set Bruce on you.”

“Bruce is here too?” He tried to keep the eagerness from his voice.

“Yeah, he’s in the chopper,” Stark pointed to the hovercraft with a smirk.

Thor gazed towards the hovercraft with a mix of longing and apprehension. But then a doubt niggled in his mind.

“Wait, if you are both here, where are your past selves?”

Stark scratched the back of his neck. “Uh well, our old selves kind of exploded into dust and we’re the only versions of ourselves left.”

“What?!” That was not how they had explained time travel to him the first time. He would have never agreed to do it otherwise.

“We somehow time travelled within our own universe so now there’s only this timeline.” Stark took a deep breath “The future’s gone, all that we have left is  _ now. _ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will still be in Thor's perspective but it will involve some brotherly bonding this time


	11. Sexy Dad bod Vibes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously-A recount of Thor's travels in time. He had his eye stolen and an elderly lady tried to set him up with her grandson. Thor heard about Loki's attack on the news and could not help but go see him. But after waiting for his younger self who never arrives he has to take matters into his own hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if this is quite how I imagined this scene to go but I hope its entertaining all the same. I wrote it all in one go like some kind of fever dream.

Thor did not know how to react. He imagined most people would rejoice at the chance to journey to the past and right their wrongs. The amount of times that he too had yearned for the past were incalculable. Yet now that he was here he could not help but feel like he wasn’t worthy of any of it.

Thor had erased his past self entirely. Uprooted him from his life and selfishly stole everything in return. That Thor had not made any of the egregious mistakes he had made. He had not witnessed the death of every single person he had ever loved. His hands were not stained with the blood of trillions because he could not do enough.

That Thor did not deserve to be replaced by him.

But at the same time he could not help the fierce burning pain of hope that flared through his chest. The hope that maybe, just maybe, he could do better this time.

His kingdom was alive and flourishing, their long lives not snuffed out before they had truly gotten to live it. His beautiful and brilliant mother could be waiting for him, only a bifrost trip away. His father too, only his feelings towards him had gotten infinitely more complicated with time. It was difficult to reconcile the loving, righteous king he thought him to be, with the deception and destruction he had veritably wrought.

And then there was his brother. His complex, many faceted brother who had tried to kill him many times. Yet in the end had sacrificed himself for Thor. Killed by the very beast he had been running from since he fell. 

It was only after the destruction of asgard that Loki confessed about his true role in the invasion of midgard. The fact that Thor had been too blinded by grief and fury to even notice that his brother had been tortured, to even question why Loki would want to invade midgard-when he himself had told Thor that he never wanted to rule-had haunted Thor for years.

He had failed Loki and he had died for it.

But now he was alive and barely 100ft away. 

Why did it suddenly feel like there wasn’t enough air? His heart rate shot up and he could feel the tingle of static building in his fingers.

“I’m gonna need the eyepatch,” Stark’s voice broke him from his spiraled thoughts and brought him crashing back down to earth.

The shift in his thoughts almost gave him backlash but it was a welcomed sensation.

“What?” he said tracing the hard plastic.

“I need people to believe that your legit and wearing a crappy children's eyepatch is not gonna help your case,” Stark said.

Thor covered it defensively “It’s not crappy. It’s cool.”

“Dude I am begging you, if they see that patch they will not listen to a thing you have to say.” when it looked like Thor was going to refuse he continued “I’ll get you a new one I promise.”

“Fine,” Thor pouted but removed it all the same. His face felt strangely naked without it.

Stark took the eyepatch away muttering something about burning the evidence. Then he gave a tentative look to the hovercraft before clapping Thor on the shoulder. “Are you gonna be okay up there? You don’t have to go in there if it’ll be too much, we can go straight to the helicarrier.” 

While Thor appreciated Stark’s offer he did not want to back down now. If he bowed out at the first obstacle he could never hope to successfully change anything. Thor needed to erase his past mistakes and start being there for his brother. Even if the thought of actually seeing Loki made him want to violently throw up.

Thor squared his shoulders and took a deep breath. “Fear not Stark, I can handle this.”

Stark informed the team about Thor and they made their way up.

Walking into that hovercraft felt like an absurd dream. One where you relive a memory only its skewed slightly to the left and something is different. It took a moment for reality to settle back in and for Thor to realise this was real.

Bruce’s comforting presence was the first thing that his mind latched onto. The way his eyes widened and his mouth dropped open at the sight of Thor. He was wearing a well tailored suit that fit him in all the right places. Which Thor was looking respectfully at. He ached to reach out for him but he knew he had to pretend that they were strangers. But just seeing him helped to sooth his racing thoughts.

It gave him enough confidence to turn and face his brother. 

Loki looked incredibly pale. It made the dark circles under his eyes stand out like purple bruises. His face was more gaunt than Thor ever remembered it being. And his once green eyes had been replaced by a sickly blue sheen. The fact that he had not noticed the first time around was sickening.

He felt his breath catch in his throat and the telltale pinpricks of tears in the corner of his good eye.

“Loki,” The word was almost swallowed amongst the depths of his emotions

This was real. Loki was here. He was alive.

He was also staring at him as if he had grown three heads and started slow dancing with a sea serpent. Loki’s mouth opened and closed and for once in his life it seemed that he had rendered his brother speechless. Thor sat down, not taking his eyes off his brother and lay Stormbreaker beside him. Loki’s eyes missed nothing, he scrutinised every inch of Thor with a viscous intensity.

Loki blinked several times before he came to the conclusion that what he was seeing must be real. “What the Hel am I looking at right now? This cannot be real. The mighty Thor would never be reduced to such…”

“Such what?” Thor said indignantly

“Such a disheveled and slovenly mess!”

Thor reeled back.  _ Slovenly!  _ “I’ll have you know that this is a hand knitted sweater and I think it suits me rather well.”

“I like the sweater,” Bruce spoke up from across the hovercraft. His face reddened when people turned to look at him.

Thor pointed at Bruce while keeping eye contact with Loki “See.”

Loki’s eyes shot between the two of them looking flummoxed and thrown off balance. For obvious reasons he had not expected Thor to look the way he does now.

“How much weight have you gained? It’s only been a year but now you look like you could rival Volstagg,” Loki said

“One, rude. Two, Volstagg  _ wishes _ he looked like me. And three, Stark says I have ‘sexy dad bod vibes’ so you can shut the Hel up.” It was actually one of the first things Stark had said to him when they had reunited back in 2023.

Loki looked almost stricken by his reaction. As if everything Thor said shook him to the core. It was difficult to have the upperhand when you can no longer predict your opponent. And Thor could no longer remember how his old self would have reacted.

Everyone else seemed to be portraying varying degrees of concern. Stark looked like he wanted to drop his face into his hands. Bruce had gone even redder and glanced worryingly towards Rogers and Romanov. The latter two looked at him with barely concealed suspicion.

“Do you guys know each other?” Rogers asked.

Ah, Thor realised that he had sounded too familiar with Stark. No matter, he could play it off.

“Of course not Rogers. I’ve never met Stark before in my life,” he said with his amazing acting skills.

Rogers frowned at the use of his name and crossed his arms.

“So you often say that someone has a sexy dad bod when you first meet them?” Romanov asked Stark.

Stark rebounded even faster than Thor had “Are you saying that doesn’t sound like something I would do? I thought you knew me better than that.”

Romanov had no response to that.

“You cannot tell me that this facade is because you mourned for me,” Loki’s voice was tight with an unnamed emotion. His eyes had also started to change back to his natural green

“No...Maybe-shut up.”

“Where is Mjolnir?”

Thor looked down at Stormbreaker “Hammers are sooo last year. Axes are much cooler.”

“Are you no longer worthy?” There was a wild hunger in Loki. Like he  _ needed  _ to know that Thor was no longer infallible.

That hit a nerve.

Thor’s jaw tightened to the point of pain. The metal of the seat crushed beneath his grip. He could taste the sharp, metallic tang of electricity on his tongue as the sparks leaked out of his skin. The sheer power emanating from him suffused into the small space.

Loki slammed into the wall as he reeled back in shock. 

“We all need to calm down! We can’t afford a fight up here,” Rogers had taken up his shield at some point. He looked ready to take on both Loki  _ and _ Thor.

Stark jumped in front of Rogers and held his hands up in a placating way. “Don’t worry he’s fine. You’re fine right?” he directed towards Thor.

Roger’s shot Stark another look of suspicion.

The lightning dissolved back into Thor’s skin and he loosened his grip on the seat. “Yes, I’m fine.”

But Loki had recovered quickly and was not done with his barrage of questions. “What in the nine realms happened to your eye?”

“Nothing,” Thor replied quickly, “It was just family drama.”

“Family drama!” Loki's voice had gone up several octaves. There was a look of horror on his face. “Father cut out your eye?!”

“What? No,” Why would father have cut out his eye?

But Loki continued as if he had not heard him. “Did the old fool finally lose it and carved out your eye as some misguided attempt to turn you into hi-” Loki cut himself off in a hiss of agony. His eyes screwed shut and his jaw tightened to the point that you could see the muscles tick.

His face smoothed back out and when he opened his eyes again they had returned to a vivid blue with a resigned hollowness in them.

“It matters not,” Loki’s voice was flat.

“What the fuck was that, Lucifer?” Stark asked eloquently

Loki levelled a piercing glare at Stark. “Nothing.”

“Brother, what-”

“I’m not your brother!” he spat

He remembered how angry that statement used to make him. Now it just made him incredibly sad. For Loki to believe himself not worthy of being his family. As if his parentage made a difference in Thor’s eyes.

But now of course he knew the truth. That Loki had always been family in every sense of the word.

“You may not be my brother but you are still my blood.”

Loki’s eyes flickered green once more. As if Thor’s absurdity was enough for the real him to break through. “Are you fucking with me or do you truly not understand how adoption works? I knew you were a thick headed oaf but I had no idea it was this chronically incurable.”

Thor did not rise to the bait as Loki would have expected him to. And that alone seemed to unsettle his brother greatly. Instead he just leaned back and crossed his arms. A knowing kind of smile pulled at the corners of his mouth.

* * *

Loki could not handle this. None of this was going according to plan. The Avengers were not supposed to show up until he had made his grand speech. He had to portray himself as the grand villain. As an enemy that the heroes would rally against. He needed to be someone for them to fear. Without that fear they would not take his threats seriously. Then they would not have enough power to fight back.

Loki was counting on that fight. He needed it to look convincing enough so when he inevitably lost, it would not be seen as a betrayal. If the Other even detected a hint of Loki’s true plan he would use their connection to torture Loki into insanity. Though he had survived the abuse thus far he feared how he would fare if they truly wished to kill him. So far they had only maimed him enough to get him to follow them.

He did not care how many Midgardian’s needed to die to free himself from the Titan’s iron grip. In fact, it would please him to watch them fall beneath his hand. Thor would rue the day that he chose Midgard over him. 

Thanos had been all too pleased to salt that wound. He forced Loki to relive those memories over and over and  _ over _ again. To witness every sneer and feel every slight. The look of disgust and anger on Thor’s face for Loki. Thor and Odin. He remembered their faces so clearly as they let him fall and fall and fall.

He was still falling. Even when he thought he could not possibly fall any lower. At his weakest he sometimes hoped for the desolate destruction of crash landing. Maybe then he could feel something more than a permanent hollowing rage.

Though, his current circumstances were tantalisingly close to drawing out emotions he long thought lost in the wild insanity of his mind. 

Fascination for one.

The Man of Iron was certainly a surprise. He knew a little about mortals but he had never seen one so flagrantly daring. Nor one that had the wit to hit back against Loki’s barbs. Dare he say, it was almost fun to fight him. And he was certain that Stark felt the same.

His boldness was certainly attractive...for a mortal that is.

Like he said, fascinating. This Stark was supposed to be his enemy yet when he looked into his eyes they shone with a smirk and a strange knowledge. As if he knew something that Loki did not. The urge to gain that knowledge burned through him fiercely. 

Everything seemed to be going to plan when the soldier arrived to capture him. Though he had not killed many people and he had not been able to put on as big of a show as he had hoped, they still saw him as a threat. As long as they brought him onto that floating fortress of theirs he could begin the next part of his scheme.

But his mind was thrown off course by the rush of familiar energy. Pure, concentrated magic that set every nerve ending alight. The Bifrost. The sensation had sent a thrill of panic through his system. The last time he had felt it was when he was clinging to the edge of the rainbow bridge.

Even Asgard, with all of its enhancements, could not have rebuilt the machine so quickly. It was unmistakable and impossible. Yet Loki had felt its presence all the same. 

Though he had planned for Thor’s arrival, he had thought Odin would need to harness dark energy to do it. The appearance of the Bifrost suddenly made Asgard feel a lot closer. As if the Allfather was breathing down his neck. It made his skin feel tight and constricting.

He tried not to let the mortals see his change in demeanor. He shook away the feeling and straightened his back. Though he still felt the piercing gaze of Stark.

When they finally shoved him onto that aircraft he was shocked and distrubed to find Banner aboard. From the intel he had gathered, this man was incredibly dangerous. One loud noise away from killing everyone around him. Barton had told him that they would bring Banner in to defeat him and Loki had planned to use the beast to destroy their floating fortress.

Revenge would make them hungry for action and they would not hold back once the real fight came.

But Banner looked surprisingly at ease. Not showing a single glimpse of the barely restrained monster beneath his skin.

His calmness only put Loki more on edge. Had he miscalculated? 

Loki suppressed his feelings off discontent and tried to exude an aura of aloof and cunning. But that all went out the window as soon as he laid eyes upon Thor. 

At first he had not even recognised him. It took an embarrassingly long time for it to click that  _ this _ was Thor. Not the mighty golden prince that he had been expecting. He looked nothing like the memories that Thanos had scorched onto his mind. Gone was the haughtiness and the pride. Replaced by a deep despair that not even the greatest of actors could fake. 

His hair was a lot longer but instead of the typical braids it was just thrown into a bun. In place of his shining Asgardian armour he was clothed in some kind of soft Midgardian attire. And he had a round gut that had definitely not been there last time Loki had seen him.

And he only had one eye!

Loki had also noticed the way that Thor looked at Banner and Stark. Even a blind man could tell that they were clearly acquainted with one another. But the weight of that familiarity 

He had been prepared for the perfect Thor. The righteous Thor. The Thor that would not hesitate to attack Loki. He may have even pretended that he mourned but Loki would have been able to see through the obvious ruse. Loki would be able to push all of his buttons until he inevitably fell victim to one of his tricks. 

That was the Thor that Thanos had prepared him for.

But this. This was nothing like that Thor

He was grief personified and could not be considered anything but. There was even a chance that he was no longer worthy of Mjolnir. The idea that the mighty Thor might be as broken as he was, sent Loki reeling. On one hand he felt ferociously vindicated. Finally he had been brought low. But on the other hand he felt bone aching sick to see Thor this way. There was still a small part of him that looked at Thor and saw a brother. No matter how much he tried to suppress it. And this was not the brother he remembered

It felt like the earth had been pulled up from beneath Loki’s feet the second that he saw him. Seeing the clear contradiction between his memory of Thor and this one had cracked some veneer in his mind. For a brief moment it felt like some of his old self had bled back through.

The Other had chosen that moment to send a wave of roiling pain through the bond. It started in the base of his skull and then spread through his head and down his neck. Like all of his nerve cells had been submerged in flame.

_ Stay on track little princeling.  _ The Other’s voice was hoarse and seemed to scratch against the inside of his head. Filled with the strength of power and the tightening of shackles.  _ Or do you need a reminder of what shall happen should you fail. _

With each word Loki felt his old self slip further and further away. It scrambled like a wild, half-feral creature, clawing against the edges of his mind to stay. But it had no hope against The Other and the strength of the mind stone. They locked the real him back behind the veneer, leaving the hollow shell in its wake

But once the cracks were there. They were not so easily repaired. The tethers between him and the Mad Titan were already unravelling and all it had taken was a single discrepancy.

He vowed to uncover the mystery of Thor if it was the last thing he did.


End file.
